Grace
by Ao Redd
Summary: An alternate plot to Eclipse in which Edward's death leaves Bella in the care of the Volturi, where Bella must endure the pain of the Cullen's deaths by archiving their life and finding a new home in Volterra.
1. The Ending

I'm not sure if my general disappointment with the Twilight series or my fascination with odd couples inspired this story more. That or I must have an infatuation with Michael Sheen, because I find always myself writing about characters that he portrays in movies. Either way, Bella/Edward fans be warned, I'm not writing this for you. This is a story about an unlikely romance between Bella and Aro Volturi.

The story begins in chapter 24/25 of Eclipse, strictly speaking on the Twilight timeline, though not having read past the second book, I apologize for any inaccuracies I might be called out on. I simply wasn't interested enough to read the entire four or five hundred pages of the third book after my immense disappointment with the second. Edward hasn't killed Victoria, you'll find that things will go quite differently.

* * *

Alice Cullen watched in confusion as the clearing did not match her vision, as it rightly should have, playing out in a direction she hadn't seen.

"No… this isn't what I saw! They should be here by now!" she stuttered nervously as for the first time she was completely deserted by her abilities.

The Volturi hadn't come to the aid of the Cullens and the Quileute wolves as she had predicted, as they all had relied on. At Riley's call, a fresh swarm of newborns invaded the battle, nightmarishly attacking the others with full force.

"Confused?" asked a menacing, merciless voice. Victoria held Edward by his neck, overpowering him while he had been distracted by Carlisle's cries as three or four newborns thrashed at his limbs. They were weakening, and now with Alice's vision hopeless of becoming truth, death and soulless eternity loomed upon all of them.

A thin newborn with black hair approached, the newborn that exerted the most control and possibly the oldest, earning her the honor of a direct companionship with Victoria. Her smile was eerily familiar, like a childhood dream, corrupted somehow in its association with evil.

"Cynthia…?" Alice asked, the appearance of her sister born into this hateful, vampiric phantom further numbing her perception of reality.

"My grandmother is dead, you should know this," the girl replied, carefully examining Alice and comparing the many striking physical similarities. "My name is Jamie. My gift, as was hers, is the perfect compliment to yours. You can see true visions, while I can inspire false destinies, like the one I gave to you. They're useful in trying to torment, confuse, and in this case, deceive."

"There's no one coming to save you now," Victoria affirmed, her eyes burning directly into Bella's, who stood beside Alice in horrified realization of their fatal mistake.

Jamie took a sudden interest in Bella, catching her delicious human scent once regarded by her mistress.

"You must be the human that started all of this trouble. I can see why now. So terribly tempting," she snarled as she took a step toward her. Inflamed by the threat to his love, Edward broke free of Victoria's grip and attacked Jamie.

"Bella- Bella, get back!" Alice commanded, pushing her backward and causing her to lose her balance. Bella tumbled down the hill, falling into blackness and fear and despair…

~:-:~

Light was on the horizon when Bella woke from her disturbed unconsciousness, though she couldn't tell whether it was morning or nightfall. She felt like she should hear sound, but no noise came to her disoriented ears as she tried to pull herself up from the ground. A force pulled her back down, and she blinked her eyes to see. Golden eyes brimming with cold tears stared back at her.

"Edward…?" she asked in a soft tone, her mind suddenly alarmed by something she rarely perceived in his eyes. Fear.

He acknowledged what he was soon to lose. What he had feared more than any death or worldly affliction. It donned on her what he was trying to do. He was saying goodbye.

"Bella… I need you to listen carefully and do exactly what I say. After I leave-" he began before noticing her mouth open to argue, placing a finger at her lips to silence her, his eyes stressing the most importance they could possibly convey.

"After I leave you," he continued, "you need to stay completely still until it is safe. We've contacted the Volturi, who were entirely unaware of the situation until now through Jamie's power. They're coming to help you, Bella," he promised, stroking her cheek and enjoying the feel of her warm, soft skin for the last time.

Voices were heard in the distance, the wild and primal shrieks of still hungry newborns.

Edward removed several layers of his clothing and covered Bella's body, cloaking her alluring scent.

"If they smell you, it's over, but if they can't, then they won't find you in time. I'm going to hide your scent as thoroughly as I possibly can," he explained, rubbing dirt and leaves into her skin and hair, making her invisible to the vampires.

"What about Jamie and Victoria? Don't they know we're here?" Bella asked rationally, remembering the scene before she fell.

"No, they're dead now. A good number of them are dead," he replied stoically, eager for a chance to find strength in the little optimism left.

"And… and what about Alice?" she asked quietly, a nervous pain in her heart trying to keep her from asking a question she was almost certain she didn't want to know the answer to.

Edward paused, his lips pursed. He wasn't sure he could say it.

"She's dead, Bella. They're all… gone," he answered, the evident pain searing in his voice and his mind.

Bella was left speechless, a hole torn into her heart as her worst fears had become reality. They were going to lose this fight. Everyone was gone, and there was no going back.

"Why…?" Bella asked, tears filling up her eyes and slinking bitterly down her face. This couldn't be it. In a world with monsters and magic, there had to be a happy ending.

Edward shook his head, unable to answer her. Unable to tell her what was to come next.

"I have to go, too, Bella." His voice broke with Bella's heart. "They're already looking for me, they can smell my blood."

Edward pulled off his last shirt to reveal his gruesome wounds, his flesh torn from bites and claws. Bella gasped at the sight of his broken body and felt her soul assume a similar condition. There would be no surviving this, with or without Edward's help. If he could never recover, then neither could she.

"We'll go together," she pleaded madly, "We'll die together, be our own lovely tragedy."

Edward dipped his hand into the flowing blood and let it trickle onto Bella's cheek, sliding down her face and mixing with her tears.

"No, our struggle, our deaths will not be in vain. I'll do what I've always promised to do. I'm going to protect you and I'm going to save you one final time."

"No, you're killing me!" she shouted, burying her face in his chest, desperately wanting to be able to escape with him, as she always had. Her life, her future, and her love, it was all slipping away.

"This loss will wound you, but you will not be crippled. You will live and learn to be stronger than that. I'm giving you the only gift I have left to offer, and that's a second chance. I'm saving your happy ending," he said as he tried to comfort her sobbing in vain, her pain as uncontrollable as her body.

"There's no happy ending without you!" she protested, gripping onto him harder as she could feel the end coming closer.

"I cannot restore your human life, I know there will be no solace in that," Edward admitted, "but if you look hard enough, I know you'll find that happiness. If I know I have sacrificed for that, then I can truly smile in death."

Edward continued to paint her body with his blood, masking her scent with the breath of his death.

"Promise me, Bella. Promise me you can do that," he commanded urgently, pulling her from him so he could stare unadulterated emotion into her eyes. She knew he needed her to say it, even if she would never mean it. It was the only way he could ever possibly bear what needed to be done.

It was her final gift to him.

"I promise," she whispered, her voice becoming smaller and more useless by each painfully acute second. Bella tried to savor his whole existence for the last moments she would know him, before he vanished into eternity with them.

Edward kissed her without any of his former restraint, enjoying her taste for this one last time. It was all he could have ever asked for.

"I love you, Bella. I loved you."

And then he was gone. Bella slid to the ground, unable to speak or move as she felt the final piece of her heart shatter and leave nothing but darkness. She closed her eyes and surrounded herself in it.

* * *

Yes, the first chapter is depressing, but it's necessary. I ended it before Bella is saved because it I felt it was more powerful alone. Don't worry, the next chapter will introduce the remainder of the plot. Reviews would definitely encourage the process of writing the next chapter!


	2. Pieces

I read the first chapter again and almost wanted to have Edward survive somehow. I'm almost tempted to write an alternate ending, maybe if it's requested at all. I think you grow closer to characters you work to understand. Or manipulate them to your ideas. That way they become your creation, and you put a part of you in them.

I wrote this entire chapter in one sitting, the day after I wrote the first one. Not very smart when you have a pile of homework beside you and due the next day, but it was very relaxing. I hope you enjoy the second chapter!

* * *

Aro sat at his extravagant throne, perched like an idle lion. Unmoving and relatively silent, Solimena's depictions of the vampire lord were concretely accurate. He'd spent centuries in this place, in his chair, carefully reviewing the memories he'd seen to escape his own. The memories transferred to him by touch were most vivid if received in the last decade, older memories more faded in his mind. Aro remembered their visions and their thoughts with such clarity that he could almost live them. He left his emotions there, and all else in his life was intrigue and upholding the law.

He was reveling in a memory of an estranged newborn the Volturi had killed the previous month, basking in the warmth of the Tuscan sun sometime in the deceased's human life, when Gianna burst in unannounced. Aro snarled at this impudence, his agitation increased by being suddenly pulled from so comforting a dream.

"Do you feel insolent today, or did you simply forget your manners, Gianna?" he asked in a dangerously aggravated tone.

"I-I'm sorry, master," Gianna sputtered nervously as she heard his threatening words, "but… it's the Cullens, sir. They've been attacked."

Aro's annoyance suddenly dissolved with this new, interesting information. There was no serious consideration in his mind that Carlisle Cullen had let himself fall into a situation that he wasn't in absolute control over.

"Carlisle and his coven are a circumspect kind, I doubt that they are in any serious harm…" Aro speculated inattentively, already beginning to settle back into Tuscany's warm sunlight.

"Excuse me, sir, but… no, sir. It would seem that the coven is in extreme danger. They specifically asked for your help. Some sort of newborn revolt. It seems that a few of them have already been killed…" Gianna replied hesitantly, carefully trying to avoid her master's wrath.

This thought weighed down Aro's brow. To lose Carlisle and his family would be a great loss for vampire society, and he wouldn't tolerate their legacy to be erased by a reckless army of newborns.

"Alec, Jane," Aro called, and in the instant he breathed the words, the ghastly twins appeared.

"Yes, master?" they answered in near unison, ready for whatever the task.

"I believe the Cullen coven requires our assistance. Immediately. I want our strongest guards, well fed before they depart, on a plane to Washington at once. Track down these newborns and kill any of them who have broken our laws. Bring back whoever remains in the Cullen family and provide them with a place to stay here in the palace and any medical attention they may need. Understood?" he instructed authoritatively.

The children nodded and briskly left the room to comply with their master's orders.

Aro, made patient with two millennia of life, sat back into his chair and awaited the survivors' arrival. He closed his eyes and tried to find Tuscany again, but another memory came quickly before its place. The human girl with the Cullens, her name was Bella, running through a forest with glittering skin. He opened his eyes before the vision could continue and traced his lip.

"Interesting…"

~:-:~

Bella had been lost for eternity in that forest. The hunger that pained her limbs and the thirst that parched her throat were nothing, they meant nothing. She would never get up knowing she'd return to the world without him. She would wither here, where his touch and his words could linger with her until she vanished as well.

A wave of fear instinctively shot through Bella's weakened mind when she heard footsteps in the forest. She would soon be dead now. Whoever it was, they would kill her, and she would be dead like the others…

A tall, strongly built vampire that vaguely existed in Bella's memory appeared, his threateningly burgundy eyes scanning the forest. His eyes rested on her, perhaps trying to discern if she were truly dead, or wore death as a complexion.

He raised his hand and spoke into a cell phone, his voice startlingly deep with a slight Italian accent.

"I believe I've found one. The human girl that travels with them."

He listened to the phone, his jaw set and his sight stern as he listened to his superior's commands.

"She will have to do. All the others are confirmed dead. We've executed all the newborns and we're bringing their leader back to Volterra for statements and trial. We're leaving in twenty," the voice of Jane replied, her and the other Volturi concluding their search.

"Right away," he answered, hanging up the phone and approaching Bella.

Even with full strength, she wouldn't have been able to refuse the vampire, but still her will tried. She pulled at his stone grip, though she couldn't defeat him.

"Please," she begged feebly, "please, let me stay. Let me stay…"

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that," he replied coldly, "and even if I could, there would be no point in staying. There's nothing here for you now."

"Edward…" she faintly called, "Edward…"

The colors of the leaves and the sky and the sun all blurred with the sparkle of the vampire man's unveiled skin. Her mind faded into exhaustion, a sweet reprieve from her grief.

~:-:~

Bella woke in a bed of leaves… no, they were too soft for that. Sheets so soft she assumed she was floating. _I must have died and gone to heaven…_ she thought to herself, her hands rubbing against the clouds she bedded. She wriggled her body through the sky until she reached… the end of it.

Bella opened her eyes not to see heaven, but a large room that looked like the bedroom of an ancient king. Her queen-size four-poster bed was wrapped in three blankets, each layer looking more aged than the last. The remaining furniture, none of which could have been from this century, maintained the antique nature of the room. She slowly moved toward the window, gazing into the busy courtyard below and recognizing the familiar scene. Volterra.

"I… I'm in Italy," she remarked with disbelief.

"Yes, we brought you here," said a voice in the doorway. Bella jumped as the recognized the poisonous voice. Jane Volturi stood with pristine posture, her expression formal and unflinching.

"The Three leaders would like to speak with you now, so if you would, please follow me," she instructed, much more a command rather than a request.

Bella silently obeyed, only just noticing the clean top and skirt they'd dressed her in. The clothes were fresh, but small traces of Edward's blood remained on her skin. Fresh tears threatened her eyes, though she wiped them away immediately. She didn't have to accept this yet, and certainly not in front of the Volturi.

Bella followed Jane to the largest room in the castle, where she knew what awaited her before she had even arrived before them. Caius, Marcus, and Aro sat in their seats, smiling condolences as she entered. Jane respectively bowed before exiting the room, leaving Bella completely alone and at their mercy.

Aro rose from his seat and advanced to Bella, kissing her hand, her mind and her body already too numb to react to his characteristically icy lips.

"First, we would like to let you know how pleased we were to hear of your safety. Albeit bruised and a little malnourished, you seem to show a complete recovery," Aro remarked gleefully, trying to stir happiness before more pain.

Bella's expression remained blank, her eyes wide not with fear but with emptiness. Aro's smile lessened, noticing the apathetic dullness in her eyes. He cleared his throat calmly before continuing.

"But I'm afraid, my dear, you are the last remaining member of the Cullen coven, and with that, we want to express our deepest and most profound sympathies…"

Despite his attempts, Aro couldn't reach Bella's detached mind, his words and her life had no value to her now.

"I wonder if you could remember anything of the Cullens? Memories, knowledge of their life?" Aro asked, setting aside all the previous formalities.

Countless memories of her visits to the Cullen household flooded her mind, of the life she loved in Forks with them, of Edward… Tears poised in her eyes once again, but she raised her chin to resist them.

"Yes," she responded in a quick, shaky tone.

"Excellent," Aro said with a genuine excitement, "now, you already know that I cannot read your memories, and unfortunately, yours are the only ones that can accurately depict the Cullens, the only proof left of their entire existence… As this makes me completely unable to fulfill my position as the keeper of vampire histories, I was wondering if you would do us the honor of recording their memory?"

Bella couldn't fathom his request. He was asking her to recollect each now stinging memory of the Cullens, of Edward, and record it permanently so it could never fade or dull the pain.

"I'm not sure I can do that, sir. I can't…" she whimpered, losing her ability to focus on words, her bleeding heart aching in her chest.

Somewhere, in the stillness of Aro's dead heart, he could feel the weak pang of a familiar feeling. A deep, hidden pain that he'd buried so long ago he couldn't clearly remember it. He wanted to help this girl, though he saw this task as hers alone.

"Bella," Aro said in an atypically soft tone, "I know this is hard. Perhaps the hardest thing you'll ever be obliged to do. But without consenting to be changed, it is the only thing that keeps you safe under our laws. You need time, but you do not have the luxury. These memories will fade if they are not recorded soon."

The pain in her eyes was unrelenting, pleading for mercy, begging him somewhere deep.

Aro sighed and felt compassion he thought only Carlisle had the capacity for in these times.

"Ten years. You will be granted a decade to decide on the fate of your humanity and the completion of your task."

"Thank you," she replied in the smallest voice, unable to find the energy for proper gratitude when she only felt pain.

"You may go now. Rest. You are allowed whatever comfort you need to help you through your pain, though we must ask you not to leave the premises. You are under both our protection and our law while you stay here."

Bella nodded and turned, leaving quickly to hide her rapidly breaking composure.

"Poor child," Aro commented quietly, one of Edward's old thoughts revived in his mind, a memory of her smile and noting how beautiful it looked on her face. Aro could have agreed.

"Aro!" Marcus called, a slightly worried look disturbing his face. "Do you think it wise that we house this human for so long? She seems lost and unaware of her vulnerability. I don't see her as healthy for the coven."

"I disagree," Aro interjected, "I think her long-term contribution to be an important one. As Carlisle was a former member of our own coven, I think it important that our Cullen kindred be remembered for the exemplary vampires they were."

Marcus nodded slightly in agreement, though his troubled look did not ease. Caius remained silent through the deliberations, but anger flashed in his narrowed eyes. It appeared as though he might object; yet he clenched his jaw to keep from voicing his opinion.

Aro smiled, his confidence exceeding those of his cohorts, as usual. He walked back to his place in the center of the two and placed his hand reassuringly on Marcus's shoulder.

"Don't worry, old friend. She's a simple human. Is there so much harm she can do?"

~:-:~

Bella screamed. Cried out in the most profound pain she'd ever known, the tears blinding her eyes and her mind leaving her weary mind in bewilderment. Could she survive this? Was it possible?

It continued on like this for days. Days became weeks. Weeks became endless, double-digit numbers until she lost track of how long she had despaired.

The Volturi had first devotedly catered to her needs, expectant of her to eventually move on and promptly attend to her duties. This enthusiasm slowly started to dissipate as she had yet to show even the slightest sign of healing. She could hardly think, hardly eat, hardly breathe. Even the most basic actions were difficult, every day another moment of suffering. This misery only ended in her sleep, her dreams completely empty. The nightmares had stopped when everything she ever feared losing was taken away.

It had to stop. It all had to end. _Tonight_, Bella vowed. _Tonight I will ask them to end my life. Tell them I simply cannot go on, and these memories were perhaps meant to be lost together._

It was during these desperately anguished thoughts that there was an unfamiliar knock on the door.

"Come in," she called weakly. Maybe the moment had come now.

Bella was surprised to see her visitor to be Marcus, not expecting a personal visit from any of the three Volturi leaders.

"It seems," Marcus started with a slight chuckle, "that you are disturbing many of the other residents with your… resonant mourning."

Bella's cheeks reddened with slight embarrassment. "I'm sorry… but I don't think there's any hope for it."

"Hmm… I expected such a reply," Marcus mumbled, entering and examining the room.

Almost everything remained untouched and unused, besides the bed that Bella permanently inhabited. He stood in the room and allowed a long silence, his presence tranquil, but somehow also suggesting that at any moment he would speak.

"May I recommend something?" he said after an uncounted amount of time. Still without the faintest idea of what to expect, Bella nodded.

Marcus left the room for merely a split second before returning with a medium-sized cardboard box cradled in his arms.

"Before we can leave the past behind us, we need to find the will to confront it," he said with a cryptic mysticism, leaving the mysterious box on the edge of her bed.

"When you can find the courage to open this box and face its contents, then you might find that you can let go of its pain."

Marcus exited the room as instantly as he had come, leaving a curious and astonished Bella behind him.

The box nagged at her, wouldn't let up its constant reminder of his words. The idea of relief from her pain was immensely appealing, but at what cost? Bella finally decided that it couldn't make things worse, and peeled back the folds of the box. She gasped in mixed emotion of horror and longing at what she saw.

The box contained several belongings from the Cullen home, including several pictures that once hung on its walls. She hastily closed the box and fled to the other side of the bed, turning her head from those painful memories. And still, Marcus's voice encouraged her.

_When you can find the courage to open this box and face its contents, then you will find that you can let go of its pain._

She tried to convince herself that she didn't want to move on; she wanted to suffer and die. She didn't want to let go of him.

_If you look hard enough, I know you'll find that happiness. If I know I have sacrificed for that, then I can truly smile in death._

It hit her harder than any guilt she'd felt before. It was the last promise she'd ever made to him. The last words he ever heard her speak, her agreement to abide by that promise and honor it, and she'd done nothing but deny it since.

_I promise._

Bella breathed a deep, relaxing breath as she gradually crawled back to the box and opened it once more.

She lifted a baseball uniform from the box, too small to belong to anyone but Alice, and hugged it to her chest. Her citrus smell lingered on the clothing, and she repelled thoughts of her last fateful moments with her, instead indulging in more pleasant memories. Alice always baking or cooking for Bella far too much food for one human to eat, the optimistic attitude she used in every situation, the beautiful clothes she insisted on giving to her, claiming she had 'accidentally' bought a size too big.

And then she felt it. Like a tiny, microscopic little piece of her had been restored. Maybe not in perfect condition, but it definitely made her feel happier than she had been in months.

Bella grabbed a piece of paper and began to record down the memories she had just reminisced, the happier moments certainly easier to face. She cried almost joyful tears into Alice's uniform, feeling a little hope that maybe she could keep her promise, one small piece at a time.

* * *

I obviously used this chapter to competently reveal Bella's seemingly impossible road to recovery. I don't want to spoil much, but I'm definitely eager to write more about the relationships between Bella and the Volturi in the ensuing years, no matter what they may be… Reviews! Love them! Write them!


	3. Fragile

Took me long enough, right? Thank you all for your patience with me while I juggle a job, an endless amount of school work, and my writing!

* * *

Bella sighed, and with one last strip of tape, sealed away another piece of the Cullens. It had been two months since Marcus brought her the first box, and since then she'd devoted days to the contents in each box. Sitting for hours at a time, Bella would examine every inch of each item as carefully as her eyes would let her to be certain that she remembered every single memory she could before putting it away again. Her once untouched room was now cluttered with unorganized notes of random memories, though she marked dates and locations when she could remember them. Birthdays, the areas they'd lived in, the day she met Edward…

The masking tape cried out as she pulled it over the folds of the box.

"Another one done, maybe another thousand to go…" Bella muttered as she attempted to find all the notes that corresponded to the box to set up some form of organization.

As if he knew Bella was finished before even she had time to acknowledge it, Marcus appeared in the doorway.

Bella looked over and gave a weak smile, the best she'd mustered since she had arrived, at his soft, yet sullen eyes. Of all the Volturi, Marcus was the closest to being kind, all of the others very refined, stately, and very cold. His subtle caring helped Bella adjust more than anything else to her new Italian life, his calm and patience a stable foundation.

"Ready for another one, I see?" he inquired, though he already knew the answer.

"Yes, this one is ready to go," Bella replied, almost fondly patting its edges, as if saying goodbye to a familiar friend.

"And in record time. It seems you're not lingering on these memories as much recently."

Bella didn't know whether to feel relief or dread from his words. She was struck with a combination of both.

"Yeah, I suppose your right," she replied in a hollow tone, her conflicting emotions reflecting in her voice.

"No matter, there are plenty more. I shall fetch you another," he stated before exiting the room.

Marcus had left before she had time to think, though she was beginning to get used to his fleeting presence and occasionally managed a thank you before he disappeared. Sometimes it seemed his words were more profound than his physical being, and if he were to leave forever, she would still be able to hear his voice...

~:-:~

Aro sat at his regal chair, his chin resting inattentively in his palm. He felt he should try and be more productive, but a boredom that stretched through centuries had taken the will from him. He wondered when it was that Volturi life had grown so mundane, though he ultimately decided he didn't want to know the answer to exactly when his life had taken a turn for the worse. It was antagonizing thoughts like these that made feeding on Gianna seem so much more appealing. The taste of fresh blood was more thrilling than any other experience in a vampire's life, making their boredom unfortunate for any humans nearby.

Aro took this into serious consideration when out of his morbid musings he caught sight of Marcus, carrying a peculiar cardboard box, a mystery that immediately offered interest.

"Marcus?" Aro called casually, trying to conceal his idleness and his murderous deliberations.

"Ah, Aro. Busy at work, I see?" Marcus asked with subtle sarcasm, puncturing a slight hole into Aro's ego.

"Mmm, yes," Aro replied tepidly, his eyes never leaving the box, "and to what purpose might that be for?"

"This is for Miss Bella," Marcus explained, "do you not recognize it? The personal effects we recovered from the Cullens' previous home and stored for future examination and cataloguing? I've been having Bella sort through it. I figured it might help her with her work and, as the English expression goes, kill two birds with one stone."

Aro approached but did not speak, his now buzzing thoughts preoccupying his attention. So this was why they no longer heard screams coming from her room. For some reason these things were having a positive affect on her, cleansing, exoneration, perhaps?

"Fascinating!" Aro exclaimed to his own thought process.

Marcus felt an ominous feeling that telling Aro this had been a mistake and hoped to somehow quell Aro's curiosity, though it was already too late.

"Might you let me take Bella this box?" he asked, no where expecting to be refused. Marcus looked into Aro's eyes, knowing the mischief of permitting him to deliver it to Bella, but somehow knowing the situation was as if he had already agreed. He handed Aro the box with reluctance, some growing fondness for the delicate human girl raising his concerns.

"Please do be gentle, Aro. She's a very fragile being," Marcus responded, voicing his unease.

"Weren't we all?" Aro said with a dry tone, his blatant disregard for Bella's disposition bothering Marcus. Without giving time for him to change his mind, Aro left him and headed for the third floor room where Bella was lodging.

"Do be gentle…" Marcus mumbled as he sat down at his seat, left alone to worry.

~:-:~

Bella brushed her hair with an antique comb, its smooth, white handle fitting perfectly into her hand, and it wouldn't have surprised her if it was pure ivory. Everything in the room was magnificent, older and more valuable than she had cared to realize before. She gently set the comb down on her vanity and looked at her damaged reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were no longer red and perpetually swelled from constant crying, though she could've sworn she'd already worked wrinkles into her skin. Bella sighed as she rested her head to avoid her own face, not needing a visual reminder of the pain she'd been enduring for the past few months. _This is for him. Because I promised._

Bella lifted her head as she heard a knock on the door, rubbing the sore bags that shadowed beneath her eyes.

"Marcus, thank you so much. You have no idea how much all of this means to-" she started before seeing Aro standing in the doorway, his unnatural smile almost sending shivers across her skin.

"A-Aro," she stammered as she stood from her chair, surprised by his first and unexpected appearance to her room. "How can I help you?"

"No, no, Bella," Aro said with a shocked voice, waving his hand emphatically for her to remain sitting, "there are no pretenses to this visit. I simply came to deliver this."

He motioned towards the box in his hands before slowly setting it on the armoire beside him, waiting almost too eagerly for her reaction.

"Oh, right, thank you," Bella responded before carefully taking the box from the armoire and sitting back down, still very apprehensive about Aro's motives for coming instead of Marcus. Aro's proud semblance did not suggest charity, which led Bella to assume he came for some personal reason.

Aro cocked his head slightly and gestured toward the box.

"Would you mind? I would like to see what Jane and Alec managed to collect before the police arrived."

Accepting his excuse, Bella hesitantly opened the box and revealed its contents.

Clothes, mostly. She tenderly pulled out several of Esme's dresses and carefully folded them into a neat stack beside her. Bella stifled a gasp as she discovered one of the things she had been waiting and hoping to find in every box.

A grey jacket, lightly creased in the places where the fabric remembered being worn, the trace of the body of its past owner. It was the first belonging of Edward's she had seen in any of the boxes.

She could feel it coming. A wave of uncontrollable grief, an emotion she needed to feel to release.

"Please…" she begged, not wanting him or anyone else to see her naked heart, "please go…"

And there it was again. That same urgent sensation inside him that he experienced when she had first arrived was back. It stripped away his objective curiosity and touched something in him deeper, something very frighteningly human.

Bella began to weep, clutching the jacket to her chest as she turned her head to be alone. She felt loss, and anger, desperation, and depression. They attacked her relentlessly, and no one was going to save her…

A hand, firm and gentle, reached out to her and found her shoulder. She couldn't help it anymore. She couldn't do it by herself anymore.

She grabbed Aro's hand and pulled him to her, running herself into his chest, the first sense of security she'd felt since Edward's death. Aro nearly gasped in astonishment. He let his arms wrap around her heaving shoulders, forming a stone wall around her, something to protect her from the sadness and the sorrows of the world around her.

Aro was speechless. Her vulnerability had drawn his hand and his sympathy, but something nameless and remarkably powerful kept his arms in place. He let her cries and her tears drain out of her weary body while he shielded her from the world. As time passed and her limits met, she didn't feel isolated and abandoned.

"Thank you," she whispered as her strength gave out to exhaustion.

Aro was silent as Bella fell asleep in his arms. The warmth of her body was a surprising and long forgotten feeling, but very welcome. The heat of blood was very attractive to vampires, as was the slow, calm beating of her resting heart. He felt like he could listen to it for hours, and had nearly lost his sense to its rhythmic pulse.

_I'm helping her_, he reasoned, trying to convince himself logically to stay, though fear began to form in his mind. He wanted to admonish himself for letting his desires gain control so easily, for attending to the needs of a human girl before his duties, but… he couldn't win. Maybe that was what he frightened him the most.

So he stayed, his internal strife continuing, but often interrupted by a soft sigh from Bella's lips or a skipped beat in her heart, reminding him why he was there.

~:-:~

Bella woke with her arms in pins and needles, hugging tightly onto something comforting, burying her face into… her pillow. As she blinked the sleep out of her eyes, she tried to remember how she ended up in bed.

"He didn't kill you, I see. That eases my mind," mumbled a deep, familiar voice. Marcus stood in her doorway, not daring to commit the unfathomably rude act of entering her room without permission.

"Aro…?" she asked, trying now to discern when he had left. Maybe a better question was how long he had stayed with her.

"Mmm, I just wanted to check and make sure he left you in one piece," Marcus said in a foreboding tone, ambiguously between joking and serious.

Bella pulled her hair behind her ears and thought back to the previous night. She'd cried… and Aro… he comforted her? Was it possible that maybe the Volturi weren't as menacing and evil as the vampire world thought them to be? Bella was certain now. The Volturi couldn't be completely evil, and somewhere they were still capable of human tenderness.

"Aro… isn't really that bad of a guy, is he?" Bella asked out of her thoughts.

Marcus smiled, but turned his gaze to the ground, feeling she had touched on something true, but had also missed something she couldn't have known.

"No, he's surely not," Marcus replied, the words that should have been confident through longtime companionship sounded bitter from an underlying grudge.

Bella pulled the sheets off her body and clumsily stumbled across the room, finding the box from last night and the stack of clothes she'd folded, Edward's jacket at the top. Allowing herself only one sigh, she placed the pile into the box before taping it shut forever.

"This one is ready," she told an impressed Marcus.

"So soon? I'm almost inclined not to believe it. Are you certain?"

"Yes," Bella replied, feeling the weakness in her voice and speaking up a second time, "yes, I'm sure."

"Then you're ready to go seek it out on your own. The last room to the right. That's where we're storing them. Good luck, dear child."

"Wait, Mar-" she started futilely, the transient vampire already gone.

Holding the box at her stomach, she ventured into the hallway for the first time since she'd come to Volterra. She'd almost forgotten it had been so long since she'd left her room, the hallway looking completely unfamiliar to her. It seemed longer, more detailed, perhaps even more vibrant than before. In her mind, she knew the hallway hadn't changed, but the mind she perceived it with.

She passed a few doors before realizing she'd forgotten Marcus's instructions. Last door to the left? Second to last door to the right? She stopped at the largest door, some misplaced logic leading her to guess. The moment she stepped through the door she knew she was wrong, but was soon so enthralled she no longer cared.

The room was a dream. The walls were a rich, delicious shade of pink, nothing too light for a baby or too bright for a flower. The poles of the four-poster Queen-size bed curled into ivory towers and the canopy a thin, elegant veil for a hidden fairytale princess. A bookcase graced with every classic story faced the bed, any shelf not devoted to an array of books was filled with crystal figurines of animals and porcelain dolls. Their flawless faces and blushed cheeks radiated an innocence and perfection unattainable in reality.

Bella felt her touch might spoil the air of magic the room possessed, but a small gleaming from one of the shelves beckoned to her. Two sapphire eyes belonging to a crystal puppy with pure gold ears, the essence of the playful dog captured in glass, captivated her youthful curiosity. She carefully lifted it from its place to examine its expert craftsmanship, even the most minute detail immaculately worked into the delicate crystal…

"WHAT are you doing?" screamed a panicked girl from the doorway.

There was a gasp and then SMASH! A startled Bella dropped the precious crystalline puppy, its beauty smashed into a million irreversible pieces. Her horror could only be compared to that of Jane's, who witnessed her room's intruder ruin her most treasured possession. Jane sifted through the broken glass, finding its two blue eyes and refused to look away.

"It was a priceless gift…" she managed to utter, her voice dangerously low.

"Jane, I-" Bella started, looking for the right excuse.

"DON'T YOU EVER COME BACK OR I'LL KILL YOU! GET OUT!" Jane shrieked, her glistening eyes threatening tears.

Bella ran from the room, leaving the distraught young girl and the tainted room behind her…

~:-:~

Bella hadn't left her room. It was far easier than facing the mess she'd caused, but she knew that this habit of locking herself away to avoid problems would never be a solution.

She thought back to the conversation she'd had with Marcus the night before.

"Jane collects the most expensive and beautiful objects and surrounds herself with them. This is her alternative to building real relationships. Can you blame her? It's a lonely life we lead."

Marcus was right, but Bella didn't see how these substitutes could make her truly happy. If only she could give her something she really needed, something that would love her unconditionally… and then it came to her. The perfect solution.

Bella ran to the door and called down the hallway.

"Marcus!" she shouted, "I need you to help me with something!"

~:-:~

The next morning, Bella woke to what would have previously been a nightmare. Jane standing at the end of her bed. Instead of the infinite fury Bella had been expecting, she stood composed and almost, just almost, a little cheerful.

In her arms, Jane cradled a small, white terrier puppy with bright, crystal blue eyes. It rested contented in her arms, its playful tongue dancing on its small white teeth.

"You may be allowed to enter my room," Jane said with a commanding voice, "on the condition that you knock first."

"Absolutely," Bella agreed.

Jane sat on her bed and released the energetic puppy, which tirelessly ran into pillows and the wrinkles in her blankets.

"Have you thought of a name yet?" Bella asked, reaching to pet the puppy, its gleaming white fur even softer than it appeared.

"Tesorina," Jane declared proudly, "it means little treasure in Italian. We'll call her Tessy for short."

"That's a wonderful name," Bella agreed, scratching behind the ears of the playful pup, which barked happily.

Bella and Jane took turns tossing Tessy's toy across the bed, giggling while the puppy pranced across the covers and attacked the stuffed animal.

"We should take her outside! She'd love the courtyard," Bella said, catching Tessy when she nearly chased her toy off the side of the bed.

Jane's gaze turned downcast before Bella had time to remember that vampires no longer felt the pleasure of sunlight or the daytime.

"Don't worry, we'll go once the sun sets," Bella said, trying to fix her previous statement.

"Really? Can we really?" Jane asked her, and for the first time, her expression brightened to look her child age.

"Of course we can," Bella replied, surprised by such a sudden change in Jane's composure.

"Alright, I'll return around eight," Jane said before scooping Tessy into her arms and almost skipping out the door.

Bella remained in her bed after Jane had left, enjoying the way the first real smile since too long of a time felt on her face.

* * *

Thank you all for your reviews and kindness! I love hearing your feedback and opinions! I still haven't really found complete direction when it comes to this story as a whole, but I think this chapter came out pretty well, also establishing the relationship between Jane and Bella and the romance between Aro and Bella. I think my favorite character right now is Marcus, and it might show in my writing. I hope you all enjoyed the third chapter and I'll try to have the fourth chapter out as soon as possible!


	4. Lullaby

Good lord! I take so long to update. I started reading some other fan fiction that ended in frustration as I came across several intriguing but disappointingly incomplete works. So, I've decided no more excuses, I am getting this chapter out! Enjoy!

* * *

Bella was silent as the rain fell through her open window pane and onto the floor while she turned the last page, attentively absorbing its final words.

'And then may it be pleasing to Him who is the Lord of courtesy,  
that my soul might go to see the glory of its lady, that is of that blessed Beatrice,  
who gloriously gazes on the face of Him _qui est per omnia secula benedictus_:  
who is blessed throughout all the ages.'

Bella sighed and pressed the book against her heart, turning to face the stormy clouds gathering outside.

It was the wettest Bella had seen Volterra since she had first come to stay, maybe four or five months ago. It was sometime in November now, but she hadn't paid much attention to the exact amount of time that had passed. She was no longer living with the world, but growing and healing at her own pace.

She imagined the icy rain on her window back in Forks. It would undoubtedly be colder in the overcast Washington town, her room abandoned and empty. Her father in the kitchen downstairs, staring down an empty glass, wondering where he went wrong. She'd written him and her mother letters months ago, but both went unanswered. Her old life, and the people that had survived it, were left behind back in that forest.

Bella was brought from her reverie by a knock on the door and two wide red eyes. Jane had started to visit Bella regularly, seeing her more often now than Marcus. She was surprisingly gentle and kind when the door was closed and she could let her hair down.

"Did you finish it?" she asked, closing the clasp on Bella's window to shut out the rain.

"Yes, just now," Bella answered, rubbing her finger tenderly against the large black text on the cover. LA VITA NUOVA.

"It figures that a man who could so perfectly capture the vision of Hell could also master the essence of love."

"Hmm," Jane agreed quietly.

"What did you bring me today?" Bella asked curiously, handing Jane the book.

"I have nothing today. You have read all the English titles in my library," she replied, taking back Dante with otherwise empty hands.

"Oh." Bella hadn't realized how quickly she'd filled her spare time with reading Jane's books. She looked through pages more often than she looked through the cardboard boxes that were beginning to leave her room at a slower rate. Marcus had noticed, but refrained from mentioning it.

"Don't worry, Bella," Jane said, catching the disappointed look in her eye, "there are more, of course. But you will have to ask Aro for entrance into his library."

Aro. She'd barely managed a glimpse of him since the night he'd comforted her in her room. Or so she imagined. She wasn't sure if what she remembered had really been him, or maybe a dream her mind had placed in his stead. She had gone to bed many nights since secretly longing for that dream.

"Aro has one of the largest and most beautiful collections of authentic and first-edition literary masterpieces in Italy, perhaps even the entire world… or so he boasts," Jane said with a playful wink.

"Will he mind?" Bella asked, subtly trying to find an explanation for his disappearance.

"Not at all. Everyone in the Volturi has borrowed from Aro," Jane answered. Bella smiled as she realized that Jane no longer considered Bella as an outsider.

"His library is one floor below this room, the oak double doors," Jane said as she exited the room, lingering in the doorway for only a second.

"Be sure to ask him before you take anything… Aro does not take kindly to thieves," she said before vanishing into the hallway.

~:-:~

Aro sat with his jaw clenched, staring relentlessly at an old portrait resting against the wall in his library. It had long since been removed from the wall, but was only recently unburied from its resting place in the dungeons with all the other unsorted and unworthy relics in Volterra. The woman in the portrait was beautiful, her dark hair pulled away from her face while she proudly smirked at Aro. Her arrogance might have been unbearable if the canvas hadn't been torn down the middle, this imperfection decreasing the intensity of her smug smile.

Aro heard the doors bellow as someone pushed them open, likely Marcus or someone sent by him to try and convince him to return to work.

"I've told you already, I'll only be another moment. Can I have no rest?" he snapped irritably, closing his eyes to escape from the woman's haunting grin.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to disturb you…" a meek voice responded. Bella stood nervously in the doorway and started to back away, admonishing herself for not asking Marcus to borrow a book for her.

"Bella!" Aro called, rising from his seat and gliding swiftly to the doors, "you must excuse me. Marcus and his minions have been pestering me for days, I assumed you were one of them. How may I assist you?"

"Well," Bella started shyly, avoiding his eyes, "I was just looking to borrow a book or two. Do you mind?"

"Oh, not at all! You're welcome to any and all the books I possess. Anything that you're looking for in particular?" he asked in a distinctly polite fashion.

"Not exactly. Just looking for something to preoccupy my mind," she answered with surprising honesty.

"Well, since I'm sure you've become accustomed to Italian literature, and for the fact that it's the majority of works that I own, Boccaccio will work. Of Famous Women should give you some inspiration," he said, scanning the spines of the books with his fingers while he mentally searched for suitable candidates.

"Maybe something contemporary as well? Hmm…"

"Do you have a copy of Romeo and Juliet?" Bella asked ruefully, trying to hide her painful past connections with the story, though Aro was not easily fooled. He recognized the pain in her eyes as she asked the question without realizing what she was truly asking for.

"No, I'm afraid I do not."

It was only half a lie. He truly didn't have what she was hoping for.

"However, I do have other Shakespearean works. Here's one right here," he said, pulling an aged book from the shelf.

"It is rather old," he remarked, trying to brush the dust from the cover, "but if handled with care, it should do."

Bella gently took the books from Aro, cradling them in her arms like infants instead of haphazardly carrying them at her side as most people her age would. She was indeed such a fascinating creature. She thanked him for his kindness and turned to leave before stopping at the door, considering her next question before she asked it.

"Would you… would you mind if I read here for a little bit?" she asked hesitantly, "I've been in my room for so long. It might be nice for a little… change of scenery."

"Oh, yes, of course!" he responded, gesturing his hand to a nearby couch. She sat down into its deep-red velvet cushions and examined the room around her.

It was no surprise how carefully it was organized, rows of bookcases vertically aligned with books fitted perfectly to every shelf. The library was decorated with academic artifacts and elaborate works of art, the oldest and most beautiful things she had ever seen. The wooden floors were covered with Persian rugs and reading lamps with colored glass shades coupled every couch. The solitude and timeless atmosphere of the library welcomed Bella as she settled into the couch and opened the cover of the book.

Aro resumed his seat across the room, taking up a favorite book and pretending to read. He had planned on contemplating the current crisis in the Volturi's attention, but found himself fixated on Bella. Though she could keep her thoughts and her mind sealed away from him, her expressions were astonishingly plain on her face. Every emotion she felt was intricately and completely visible in her complexion, and he could almost guess the scenes she was reading by each detailed expression. And then suddenly her face donned a familiar look, complete sadness. Something in the words she read had pierced her heart. Aro suddenly felt an inexplicable desire for her to rest, perhaps pull her into his arms again, remembering how warm and beautiful she was while she slept. That peaceful look on her face and the soft beating of her heart…

Aro looked up and noticed Marcus beckoning him from the doorway, an irritated look in his eye. Aro re-shelved his book and turned to Bella.

"Please excuse me, but I must be attending to some business," he said in parting. He was nearly at the door when Bella called to him.

"Aro!" she said quickly, hoping to catch him before he glided swiftly out of the room.

"I just wanted to say… thank you," she said softly.

"Anytime," he replied before turning and leaving the library, feeling a sudden sorrow for having to leave her.

Bella nestled back into the velvet embrace of the couch, thumbing through the pages of her book before relocating where she had left off.

'Ay me! for aught that I could ever read,  
Could ever hear by tale or history,  
The course of true love never did run smooth;  
But either it was different in blood—'

"Something on your mind?" Marcus asked Aro, noticing a distant and dreamy look in his eye, replacing the normally casual and uninterested one.

"No, not at all," he replied.

He had all but forgotten about the woman in the painting.

~:-:~

Bella jumped when she heard the loud noise of her book falling on the hard wood floor. She rubbed her eyes and lifted herself up, her neck aching from the uncomfortable position she had fallen asleep in.

'_When did I fall asleep…?'_ she wondered.

She yawned and picked the book off the floor, leaving it on the couch so she could return to it later. She left the library and wandered around the halls, her mind still a little clouded from sleep. Just as she was beginning to notice that she was walking aimlessly, she heard music being played from a nearby room. A familiar melody lured her to a set of narrow, white doors, which she opened despite her waking mind's protests.

Bella entered a small room with windows nearly as large as the walls themselves, though the curtains were drawn to shut out the light. A large, black piano dominated the room, making all the furnishings look miniature in comparison. The boy sitting at the grand piano played with the precision and mastery of an aged musician, his fingers gracefully gliding over the keys as the room filled with their passionate song. As softly as he played, the incredible acoustics of the box room made every note as distinguishable as if they were directly spoken in Bella's ear. She closed her eyes as she finally remembered the name of the piece he played. Claire de Lune.

"Have you still failed to learn how to knock?" Alec asked coldly, removing his hands from the keys to turn and give Bella a red glare.

"It's beautiful," she sighed, disregarding the icy tone in his voice.

Alec was slightly unnerved by both the compliment and her unfearing reaction to his hostility. What did Jane see in this girl?

"Please, keep playing!" she encouraged, taking a seat in the sole chair tucked in a corner.

Alec hated to comply with even a suggestion from such a weak human, but a secret part of him returned his hands to the piano. Alec had played many instruments through the centuries, but none had loved like the piano. At first, his incredible skill was admired by all the members of the Volturi. But as time passed, they tired of his songs and stopped listening. It had been long since anyone had paid any attention to his music, the closest thing to a soul he had left. As he continued to play, he began to notice that Bella not only listened to and admired his music, she felt it. She listened with both her ears and her heart, a capability that few people truly possessed. She was a companion and an audience that Alec had craved for so long. But she was still human, and as the night drew on, he could see her growing weary.

"It's very late. You should consider going to bed," he said while he concluded one of Chopin's preludes.

"One more, just one more…" she begged on the verge of sleep.

Alec tried to resist a smile and continued.

~:-:~

"You know, I've played almost every song in my repertoire for you," Alec mused, remembering that only a few weeks ago he probably thought he would never say that to anyone. Bella had intentionally passed the small room at the edge of the castle every night since she first discovered him playing, and whenever she heard him, she would devotedly listen throughout the night.

"You could always learn something new," Bella said, running her hand across the smooth, polished rim of the piano.

"Any suggestions?" Alec asked.

Bella looked away. She did have one thing that she wanted him to play for her.

"Will you wait here?" she asked him.

"For eternity, if you required it," he laughed. Bella discovered that Alec, very much like Jane, wasn't naturally as cold as he presented himself to be as a member of the Volturi guard. Deep down, there was still a very boyish character in him.

Bella went to her room to retrieve some sheet music she had found in a box the other day, trying in vain to remember exactly how the notes scribbled on the page sounded. She returned to the music room and handed Alec the music with hesitant hands. He placed the pages on the rack and examined the page.

"There are no dynamics marked, but I'll try to improvise."

The instant Bella heard the first note the rest of the tune came back to her. She followed her lullaby back to the memories of Edward playing for her, filling her heart with a feeling of something she lost what seemed like a lifetime ago. Alec stopped playing when he noticed that Bella had started to cry, hugging her sobbing chest and bowing her face.

"Bella-" he started before she looked up at him, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Please," she said sternly, "please finish it."

He continued with some uncertainty but played to the absolute best of his abilities. Bella heaved a relieved sigh as he played the last note, wiping the tears from her eyes. She reclaimed the music and hugged him.

"Thank you," she whispered before releasing him and leaving the room. She left him in complete confusion and slightly worried.

"Don't fret," Marcus said as he appeared in the doorway, feeling Alec's concern, "that was something Bella needed to hear one last time."

Alec nodded, knowing that Marcus was right.

In her room, Bella placed the music into a box with more of Edward's belongings. She looked at it once last time before taping it and placing it on a stack of three other boxes.

"Bella? Bella!"

She lingered only a moment more before leaving the boxes behind to answer Jane's calls.

* * *

Thanks again to everyone for such great feedback! I'm happy to hear all your comments and answer any questions. I'm not completely satisfied with this chapter, so it might be subject to revision. I think from this point I will be taking some liberties as a fan fiction writer with the characters and their histories. So die hard fans that might catch me doing this, be warned.

R&R! :)


	5. Charity

It's finally been one of those nights that I decided that an update is necessary. I have plotted out the remainder of the story, so now it's merely a matter of remembering to update. I'm estimating ending with 11 chapters, longest thing my short attention span has ever written. Nonetheless, this story is not a novel rich with imagery and character development (kind of like the original, HA!), but merely an idea I wanted to entertain.

Also, it has been brought to my attention that there might be some inaccuracy with Edward's bloodied condition in chapter one considering that Twilight vampires do not bleed… Hmm… Well, since the only substance they consume is blood, if it truly bothers you, then I suppose I can explain his bleeding abdominal wounds as ingested blood. Case resolved.

Anyways, enough A/N ranting!

* * *

It was a bitter cold morning. The sun had barely risen, peeking over the hills only to retreat behind the heavy clouds. It had snowed relentlessly through the night, determined to transform the landscape into a large, white blur. It was endless and undisturbed. Until Bella plowed her hand through it.

The snow protested this intrusion, immediately beginning to melt in the warmth of her palm and attacking her bared skin. The raw red of her fingers soon matched her flushed cheeks, her lips curled into a numbed smile. She did miss the crisp heat of the desert, but there would always be something magical about snow on Christmas.

She was almost certain, snowfall or not, Christmas hadn't been celebrated within the Volturi for centuries, if ever. To be completely honest, Bella had not cared to bring out her holiday spirit for many years herself. But there was something so heartbreaking about the stagnant emptiness of Volterra while the remainder of the world celebrated. A part of her wanted to believe if she could change Volterra for one day, it could breath life into the dormant city altogether. And such a miracle would have to begin with herself.

Like the snow, Bella had worked long throughout the night, hanging garlands and lights on every inch of the castle. She had even found the ability to command the help of the tentative human servants while their Volturi masters remained at a meeting throughout the night. They worked silently and independent, and Bella wondered if they feared punishment or praise more, both earning them unwanted attention from potentially lethal predators.

The melted snow glistened on Bella's hand, her bones left stiff and aching. Thin white lines covered her hands and forearms, scratches received during her diligent work. She had been careful the avoid cuts deep enough to draw blood, this freezing treatment only a precautionary measure to ensure that the scratches remained superficial.

"Bella, have you gone completely mad?"

Alec stood at an odd distance away from her, instinctively more comfortable in the shade. He made no attempt to understand why any sane human, whose core temperature could fluctuate a mere degree and indicate illness, would stand in ice with her arms and legs bared to the freezing cold. But then again, this was Bella, the human tangled in a monstrously improbable world. She stood statuesque, arms outstretched like a marble angel. Once certain all threatening sunlight was obstructed by the clouds, Alec trudged through the snow and draped his jacket around her.

"You may look like one at the moment, but you're not a vampire, and you're still vulnerable to the cold," he informed her while rubbing her shaking arms.

"I k-k-know," she sputtered, her lips trembling as her body finally registered her frozen environment. She slid her arms into his jacket, only slightly too small to fit. He smirked as her mortality finally got the better of her.

"Come on now, let's go inside," Alec urged, already crossing the courtyard when he suddenly felt something explode against his back. He turned, bewildered. Bella let out an incriminating giggle, her hands suspiciously hidden behind her back.

"Did you just…?" he asked, only for her to respond with a shameless nod. She playfully tossed a second attack at his head and frantically ducked for immediate cover.

A mature, centuries old etiquette trained him to admonish her for such childish behavior. But his recently emerged youthful nature decided to take advantage of the situation and he began to build his own arsenal of snowballs. They blindly took shots at each other, unable to focus on actually hitting a target and succumbing to fits of laughter.

Jane entered the fray, about the demand an explanation, when the pair decided to hurl their efforts at an easier target. The snow pummeled her chest, and she squealed while quickly shielding her face from their joint assault. When the barrage subsided, she answered with a fierce smile.

"Oh, you're on now!"

Bella was obviously more versed in the art of a snowball war, but Alec and Jane's supernatural speed and strength gave them the upper-hand. They formed temporary alliances and dissolved them with deceitful snowballs, built intricate forts and destroyed them with body slams, and ultimately surrendered and toppled into piles of disheveled snow.

"That was _fun_!" Jane gasped, surprised by her use of a long forgotten word. Games, play, and leisure meant nothing to a Volturi guard.

"It's not over yet!" Bella cried, attempting to toss a snowball at her, though her projectile veered completely off-course when she tripped from fatigue.

The trio froze when they heard a shout from the mistakenly targeted end of the courtyard. They lifted their heads and stared at a flustered Caius. He glared at the hoodlums before storming away without a word. Bella crammed her hands into her pockets and felt an undeniable guilt in her stomach.

"Don't worry about him, Bella," Alec sighed. "He'll come around eventually."

The twins rose and pulled Bella from her snowy battle trench and led her inside into the warmth, only to be greeted with her Christmas surprise.

"Wow, Bella! Did you-?" Jane asked, admiring the soft glow of the Christmas lights intertwined with the garlands and red ribbon.

"I knew I couldn't buy you anything you didn't already have, so I decided to make you a Christmas instead," Bella explained. "Now help me put the ornaments on the tree!"

~:-:~

Aro inspected the newborns with thorough discernment, their lives in the hands of his capable judgment. They had nearly matured to the point of controlling their bloodlust and their powers could prove valuable to the Volturi.

"Do you swear to uphold Volturi laws and decisions to the highest regard? To sacrifice yourselves, if necessary, for the betterment of vampire diaspora?"

"We swear it," they answered in unison.

After a final scrutinizing look, Aro's face relaxed into a coy smile.

"Well then, I believe the formalities are finished then. Welcome, younglings, to the Volturi guard. You will have to complete a rigorous training program, of course, but it will help you become a member of the most disciplined and strongest army in the world."

The pair of newborns smirked with a young and unconcerned attitude. One that Aro was sure would be wholly eliminated once they realized the frightening challenges of their approaching training. He felt a dark pleasure imagining the arrogant newborns cowering on the floor in fear.

The meeting was interrupted by a timid knock on the door, followed by a hesitant Bella. It was unusual for Bella to attend any governing meeting, but Aro immediately lightened at the sight of her.

"Miss Swan! Please, do join us," he called, motioning her welcomingly to enter the room. She walked towards him with a pine bouquet in her hand, an object that seemed vaguely familiar to him.

"I thought I'd bring something by for the holidays. It's a wreath," she clarified, examining the room for a place to hang it.

"Ah, of course! Forgive me, I was not aware that you were Lutheran," he apologized.

Bella laughed at his historically astute mistake.

"No, I'm not religious. It's just for decoration, you know. Just a small reminder of the season. For family and cheer and all those things I took for granted," she said with unintentional honesty. She looked away, utterly embarrassed.

"What a beautiful gesture!" he reassured her, noticing her wavering confidence. "May I recommend hanging it at the door?"

She nodded, appreciating the opportunity for a quick recovery. She clumsily hammered a nail into the wood of the door, hoping for a swift retreat when she suddenly felt a sharp pain after hastily placing the wreath on the door. She retracted her hand to discover a painful cut and a small trail of blood sliding down her palm. The consequences happened in less than an instant.

Within a second, she was pinned on the floor, her ribs crushed by sneering, ravenous newborn. She closed her eyes and acknowledged her advancing death before it all went black. _I'm sorry… Edward…_

~:-:~

Bella woke in a daze, disoriented by her hazy surroundings. _Am I dead?_

"Bella? Bella!" Jane squealed, hugging her now conscious friend tightly.

"Jane! Broken ribs!" Alec shouted, prompting Jane's rapid withdrawal.

"Sorry, Bella! So sorry!" she apologized in a frenzy, mentally chastising herself.

"Where… What happened?" Bella asked, trying to collect her muddled thoughts and return to awareness. She was lying in her bed with her head propped up against a mountain of pillows. Her hand was fat with bandages, bound several times over to prevent even the faintest detection of blood. She rubbed her eyes and tried to focus on her companions.

"You cut your hand on a garland and attracted the attention of two very voracious newborns," Marcus said with his smooth, low voice, "You would have died almost instantaneously if Aro had not intervened."

Aro. That's right…

"_NOOOOOOO!" she heard him howl. He violently thrust her attacker against the wall while fending off a second were vicious and unyielding, like animals. Reinforcements arrived shortly after hearing the turmoil. Her head was throbbing…_

"He inflicted a small concussion and a few broken ribs in addition to the superficial cut you performed upon yourself. I advise you to be more cautious in future situations," he said with a berating, yet soft tone.

"I have never seen Aro that angry," Alec said with a slight shiver. Aro had very nearly killed one of the newborns in the savage fight.

Bella suddenly felt a horrible guilt. She was certain she would be made to leave, or perhaps even killed for her responsibility in the incident. Marcus noticed her worries and almost chuckled. She obviously couldn't detect what he could, although he thought it was obvious enough without his powers.

"I was just trying to… do something… something-" she sputtered, biting back remorseful tears.

"We know, Bella. We loved it. The wreath is even made it out of the battle unharmed. It does smell a little like you now," Jane laughed.

"Try to get some rest, Bella. We'll check up on you later. No promises I won't bring a snowball," Alec said, giving her uninjured hand a playful squeeze.

Bella smiled as her counterparts left the room and she was finally able to succumb to her drowsiness. Maybe Christmas hadn't been ruined after all.

~:-:~

Aro sighed as he crudely stitched the last of his wounds in the library. They would heal in a matter of hours, but closing them sped the process and eased the pain. He reminded himself not to resent the newborns, it hadn't been their fault. It was an accident. Any young vampire would have been enticed by human blood. Particularly Bella's blood. That enchanting, sensual scent…

Aro had been recalling the smell of her blood since the incident, and no matter how much he resisted, it lingered in his mind. Even more disturbing were the lecherous thoughts it had inspired. He tried to convince himself she was just a human girl performing an invaluable task, but he couldn't deny that the thought of her harm had bothered him, even _frightened_ him. Yes, he had been downright terrified.

He lunged to her defense without a second thought, protecting her had come to him more than naturally. His opponents clawed and bit and struggled, but he refused to let up. He had only been weakened by a horrible desire to drink Bella's blood himself. He dreaded the thought enough to withstand it temporarily, but if no one had come-?

No, it would never happen. Bella would be safe, or he would be dead, no matter the costs. But… why? Why did he treasure a human so deeply?

His more analytical musings were again distracted by Bella's insistent and seductive smell. _God, it's almost as if she's here now…_

"Aro..?" a small, familiar voice called.

_Ah. That would explain it._

"Bella, my dear! You should not be up so late, especially after sustaining such trauma! Here, I'll help you return to your room," he insisted, gently taking her arm and leading her to the door.

"No, wait… wait!" she exclaimed, determined to speak with him, "I wanted to… apologize for what happened earlier. It was entirely my fault, and I don't want anyone but myself punished. I am entirely to blame and-"

She stopped her frantic apology when she heard the sound of laughter.

"Bella, please! There's no need. If anything, you have exposed an obvious weakness of mine. Harvesting humans only increases cravings for purely human blood… so I have decided, after much deliberation, that the Volturi will further your safety by refraining from feeding on humans during your stay," he announced.

Bella looked at him in disbelief. Here was man who had thought a genius such as Carlisle a fool for choosing animal over human blood. But a mind that had been set thousands of years had changed overnight. For her.

"You're being serious?" she asked incredulously.

"Oh, with absolutely certainty. I will officially establish it tomorrow when-" he began before she wrapped grateful arms around his neck.

"Thank you," she whispered. "This is the best Christmas gift I have ever been given."

"Well, perhaps not the best," he said with a sly smile. She removed herself from his arms and gave him a curious look while he lifted something from his nearby chair. It was a rectangular present wrapped in comically festive paper. She accepted the unexpected present and unwrapped it delicately, discovering perhaps the two most beautiful books she had ever seen. Her mouth fell agape when she opened the antiquated cover and read the title.

"The two quartos of Romeo and Juliet. They're even older than the First Folio, so they'll need to be handled with care," he instructed, noticing the blank look on her face.

"Do you like it?" he asked anxiously.

She couldn't find the words. Never had she received anything more beautiful, more expensive, more_ thoughtful_. It was priceless, in both physical value and personal meaning.

"Oh, my God… I can't believe…" she stammered with a smile, unable to control the overwhelmed tears that once again stung in her eyes. As she wiped them away, she was unaware that she had repeated the words 'Thank you' at least twenty times in the previous thirty seconds.

"You're very welcome, Miss Swan," he said with a pleased smile. "Now, I really must insist that you return to your room so you may properly heal."

She nodded and turned to leave before stopping in the doorway. Before she had time to stop herself and he had time to respond, she had returned to Aro and left a gentle kiss on his cheek. She bashfully hurried out of the room, clutching her books tightly against her chest and with a beaming smile, unsure whether it was from the delight his present had given her or the adrenaline her courageous kiss had filled her with.

This time Aro was speechless. He lightly touched his cheek where her tender, yet agonizingly fleeting kiss had been. He enjoyed the fading warm sensation and sweet scent…

* * *

So there it is! Newest chapter is finally written, with hopefully more to come in a more timely fashion. Nonetheless, I hope you all enjoy this fluffy, light-hearted fanfic! My only regret: not publishing this in time for the holidays, although that mark was missed by a mile. In closing, I require more reviews! I thrive on feedback!


	6. Antiquity, Part 1

A/N: Hello all! I've just started my first year of college and almost every bit of my writing I devote to essays and other course-related writing. Which is just tragic. So I decided to take a break from the weekend partying rampant in my college experience and write a new chapter. Two chapters, rather. It's been so long since an update, I decided to separate my plan for one chapter into two parts. Writing such shameless fluff always brightens my spirits, and I hope you all enjoy reading it just as much as I do writing it. Also, I've received many subscriptions and favorite story adds, so I know you're reading! That is usually encouragement enough to try and complete this story, but more reviews would be appreciated.

"Bella… Beeeeella…" a soft voice cooed in the darkness. Bella tightened her eyes and groaned in displeased resistance. She tried to pull the comforter over her head, but something was holding it firmly in place. She finally relented and turned her head from her pillow, rubbing her eyes and blinking the sleep from them.

She was shocked to see each member of the Volturi surrounding her bed with Jane standing at the foot of her bed, a broad grin across her face and a small chocolate cake in her hands. It was adorned with chocolate shavings, 'Happy Birthday' written in cursive icing, and the most divine, freshly baked smell she could have ever imagined. A single pink candle stood alone in the center.

"Happy birthday, Bella!" Jane chirped with delight.

"What now?" Alec asked eagerly.

"We light the cake!"

"No, I think we sing first."

"Sing? We have to sing?"

While the twins debated on the proper order of her birthday celebration, Bella used the opportunity to sneak a quick glance at the clock. 7:00 AM. She didn't know whether to laugh and try to sink back into bed.

"You know, it's usually American custom that you give the birthday girl her cake in the afternoon or evening. You know. After she's had a full night of sleep," she chuckled.

"Ah, you'll have to pardon us, Bella," Marcus said, taking the matchbook from Alec's impatient fingers. "It's been quite a while since any of us have celebrated a birthday."

Bella was surprised she had never noticed that obvious fact before. She assumed that the Volturi's professional solemnity usually trickled into their personal lives, but suddenly she felt a pang of pity for them.

"So when are your birthdays then?" Bella asked.

"Well, we were born in 1590, and we turned twelve the year we were turned, so… Alec, what season was it when we came to Italy?"

"I can't remember," Alec responded in pained earnest.

Bella understood by their frustrated looks and downcast eyes that no one in the Volturi could remember their proper birthday. She instantly felt regret for asking and decided to change the subject.

"Hey, where's Caius?"

"He… decided it best not to join us," Aro answered almost uncomfortably.

Great. Now she'd picked an even worse topic. Caius had been cold and distant towards Bella since she had arrived, but she had hoped that perhaps the mood of celebration might be the right situation to warm him up to her.

"Well, we'll just take this cake to the kitchen and retrieve it at a more appropriate hour. Let's allow the birthday girl her wish to sleep in," Marcus said, nudging the twins out of the room. Aro was the last to leave, giving Bella a look that suggested he had more to say, but instead vanished before she could question it.

Bella lay back down into bed, and with her mind racing with so many questions, there was little chance she would get her wish either way.

~:-:~

That was it. Bella was tired of being too polite, and even worse, too afraid to ask the difficult questions. She was scouring the castle in search of Caius, determined to get his explanation for why he often refused to acknowledge her existence. If she had any hope of getting him to even speak to her, she would have to put aside her timid demeanor and try a little aggression.

"Looking for something?"

Bella could feel her blood freeze and the hairs on her neck stand on end. She turned and found the man she had searched for standing in front of her. She wondered if vampires, the perfect predators, could feel it when they were being hunted.

"I… I just…" she stuttered as her nerve quickly deserted her. As she felt her confidence dissolve, her brain finally prompted her to act. It's now or never.

"I want to know why you won't talk to me."

Rushed and ineloquent, but finally the words came out. There was a thick and uneasy silence separating the two. Caius's jaw shifted but his darkened eyes were focused on hers, intending to either break her spirit or bore holes into her face.

"I hate you," he answered.

Bella felt her heart sink. His words had stung her deep. She had never felt so insecure and bit down on her lip. She looked away from him, forcing back an urge to cry. Caius noticed the impact of his careless words and felt his resolve waver. He knew he should've stayed away from her. What was it about her that weakened even the most violent rage?

"…because I need to hate you," he admitted reluctantly.

Bella returned her gaze to him, utterly confused by his confession.

"What do you mean, you need to hate me?" she asked, trying to hide the hurt from her words.

This time he looked away. Painful memories flashed through his mind. Memories far in the past that had still rooted deep into his soul, the face he promised never to forget. He released the fist he hadn't realized he was clenching.

"It was too easy for you. Aro just let you waltz in as if it weren't violating every law we've ever written. You think he would've learned from his mistakes," he spat, the resentment heavy in his words.

"What mistake?" Bella asked, but Caius decided to refrain from sharing any information that would lead to trouble and recanted.

"That… this was his decision. He could've turned Athenodora. He said, 'do it yourself or send her away'. She was my singer; he knew I wouldn't be able to do it. So I sent her to Calabria, where I thought she'd be safe. But our laws are supreme, and the Volturi guards where there within a week. She was executed because I was a coward and weak... It was my fault. I made peace with that. But then _you_ came along and suddenly the rules are bent. Whether fascination or desire influenced Aro to accept you, it was just too damn easy!"

Caius felt the words and anger flow from him uncontrolled. Whether his fury had been rising from the months since Bella's arrival or the years since Athenodora's death, the emotional snap that he had defied for so long finally escaped. He was almost shocked by the loss of his own temper, but was even more stunned when he saw his own expression reflect in Bella's face.

"You… you think it was easy? It was easy to watch the boy I loved shred to pieces because of a meaningless rebellion? It was easy to leave everyone I cared about without warning? I never asked for this, it was a burden thrust upon me. My life was over. I should've died there in that forest with him…"

Bella's anger had died just as suddenly as it appeared, succumbing to the despair she remembered all too well. And for the first time since she had been ordered to stay, Caius didn't see her as an object of loathing. She wasn't an object. She was a comrade.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he whispered in a soft tone.

Bella rubbed the tears out of her eyes and laughed. Why couldn't she have one carefree birthday?

Caius couldn't believe how many emotions she could register at once. Feeling anything other than cold and hatred seemed foreign to him. The anger that surged through him and then a mysterious sense of camaraderie was almost exhilarating. She was like a bolt of lightning that could defibrillate hearts that were long dead. This must've been why Aro made the exception. She was exceptional.

"So tell me about Athenodora. What was she like?" Bella asked, taking a chance to have her first real conversation with Caius. His first step to relieving a pain that had plagued him for so long.

"Well, she had brown eyes like you, but fair hair…"

~:-:~

Bella tied a lop-sided bow behind her dress, trying not to cinch it too tight. Besides the fact that she was a human, she fundamentally lacked the elegance that the Volturi exhibited, always seeming to dress in accordance to fashion. It was slowly sinking into her own wardrobe, and it was nights like these that she missed her old t-shirts and jeans.

"Come on, Bella! We've been waiting all day. Even Caius is here this time!" Jane called from outside the door.

Bella smiled, recalling how she had spent the majority of the day talking to Caius. He'd shared his stories about Athenodora, and in turn he was an intent listener about her time with Edward and the Cullens. He'd even listened to her stories about Forks and high school, which she would have considered mundane but interested him. Likely because he had never attended high school himself.

Bella awkwardly staggered down the hallway in her heels. If she weren't clumsy enough on her own, heels certainly did the trick. Jane smirked, her own heels taller than Bella's and still she walked with complete grace. Bella and Jane joined the others waiting in the kitchen, her cake set on the counter with its one lonely candle. It inspired her to have an idea.

"Hey Jane, do you still have that box of candles?" Bella asked.

Jane nodded and retrieved them from a brown bag on the opposite side of the room. She handed the box to Bella, who inspected them and walked to her cake.

"I thought that maybe since none of you can remember your birthdays, we can all share mine," she declared, pouring a few candles from the box into her hand.

"Here," she said, pushing another candle into the cake, "purple for Jane, green for Alec, yellow for Caius, red for Aro, and blue for Marcus."

She staked each of the candles in a circle around hers. She tried to straighten the candles that looked crooked when a cold gentle hand touched hers.

"Don't bother. It's already perfect," Marcus said with a rare smile. He handed her the matchbook and she lit each of the candles. Bella stood mystified by the tender glow of the small candles, and the way they appeared to flicker in the golden color of the Volturi's eyes.

"Now everyone make a wish," Bella instructed, their eyes still attentive to the small candles, the wax gradually curling around the shrinking black wicks.

Bella was hoping for several wishes. For her dad's happiness in Forks, for her mother's in Arizona, for Jacob's and the other members of his tribe, and for Edward and the Cullen's. She had long since abandoned the hope for their miraculous revival, and now all she could do was pray for their souls. She prayed that Edward was wrong, and that whatever afterlife they had evaded for so many centuries, it was one that honored them and gave them the same amount of happiness she received from them.

She hesitated before blowing out the candles to wonder what the Volturi wished for. They all stood perfectly still in complete silence, lost in the reverie of dreams and hopes that had quietly slipped away with their humanity. These small desires that had long been forgotten were reignited in five hopeful little flames, the proof of the eternal ability to find a sliver of light in even the blackest darkness. She reminded them of how you simply need the right person to light the match.

In one sweeping blow, Bella extinguished the lights, breaking the trance they induced on the Volturi. She fanned the small streams of smoke and uprooted the candles from the cake. She smiled and broke the silence with a quick laugh.

"Now who wants a piece?"

~:-:~

After all the festivities of the day had ended, Bella collapsed onto her bed, completely exhausted. But she wasn't ready to sleep just yet.

"You requested to see me?" Marcus asked from the doorway, apprehensively entering her room.

That was quick. In a brief moment alone, Bella had asked to speak with him after the others had retired to the various nighttime activities her vampire companions performed while she slept. She pulled herself from the bed and moved to the couch on the other side of the room.

"Yes, actually. I was hoping I might ask for a birthday favor, of sorts…" she said timidly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and biting her bottom lip.

"Bella, you know if ever you need my assistance, I am more than willing to offer what I can. And considering it is your birthday, you are entitled to ask for any irregular requests you so choose," Marcus said in an even, deep tone, attempting to assuage her anxiety.

"Well… I was hoping you'd tell me everything. I mean, about your history, the Volturi. Caius said something today… it made me want to know…"

Bella struggled to phrase her request, not wanting to seem invasive. She had sometimes attempted to ask the others, but none seemed interested or willing to explain their stories. Figuring that Marcus was the oldest, he would probably have the furthest recollection of events. She also considered his personality as the most reserved of the group, and decided that the most objective account would come from him.

Marcus paused and considered her request. He let out a deep sigh, knowing Bella could no longer be kept in the dark.

"You have certainly been a guest in this house long enough. It is about time that you learn the full background of our coven. This will be a long and complex narrative. Are you sure you have the energy to listen?"

Bella nodded in vigorous affirmation, straightening her posture and blinking her eyes to indicate attentiveness.

Marcus nodded slowly and closed his eyes, preparing himself to begin.


	7. Antiquity, Part 2

"I was born Marcus, son of Anastasius, in ancient Athens. My father was a soldier in the Athenian army under Cecrops II, a path that I followed shortly after his death under Panthion II. After several years as a mediocre warrior, I met young Aro and Caius. Aro was a clever strategist with ambitions to become a general, while Caius was a skilled warrior with a passionate rage that inspired fear in the most intimidating of enemies. It was through their friendship that I met Aro's twin sister Didyme, who would shortly afterwards become my wife. Yes, we were married in the spring, when the whole city smelled of orange trees… she was such a lovely bride. We were irrevocably in love, but we had trouble conceiving a child. Thankfully, on the tenth year of our anniversary, our prayers were answered and my miracle daughter Aurelia was born. She had her mother's eyes, but my laugh…"

Marcus closed his eyes, recalling the last of his human years with a fondness he had forbidden himself to indulge for many years. When he opened them and quit his reminisce, he continued.

"We had two more years of peace before Crete declared war on our new king, Aegeus. The son of King Minos, Androgeus, dishonored him by defeating him in every single event at the Panathenaic Games. There was no contest, of course, considering that Androgeus had at some point been bitten by a vampire and imbued with superhuman strength, which Minos attributed to a divine heritage. In foolhardy retribution, Aegeus sent Androgeus on a quest to kill the Marathonian Bull, a legendary werewolf called a bull due to his monstrous size and elusive appearance in general. After Androgeus was killed on his quest, an enraged Minos sent his troops to Athens, many among them humans previously turned by Androgeus.

I kissed my wife and child goodbye, sincerely believing that this battle would be my last. We had heard the accounts of the demi-god soldiers of Minos's army before, but we never would have believed their devastating power until witnessing the carnage with our own eyes. Never had we seen warriors with such strength and speed, and never had a battalion been so brutally slaughtered in such a short amount of time. In minutes, all 100 men were left dead. We watched, horrified, as our enemies not only killed many of our friends and kin, but also devoured the blood from their mangled bodies. We only managed to escape by the efforts of brave Caius, who dragged our wounded bodies under the corpses of our fallen comrades.

We each suffered immeasurable agony for an indeterminable amount of time before we awoke from sleep for the last time. We breathed our last mortal breath before becoming gods, or as we understood it, demons. We allowed the message to spread that no Greek had survived the battle and fled to the countryside. However, I was unwilling to abandon Didyme and my child without assurance of their safety, so I sent her a letter begging her to remarry. Instead, she located me and in an unknowing newborn bloodlust, I accidentally turned my innocent wife. It was through her love and compassion that she forgave me, and she encouraged us to embrace our new power with both pride and humility. We sent for Aurelia and decided to wait until her 18th birthday to turn her. But those plans changed once Aro met that wicked woman…

A young village girl, Sulpicia, stole Aro's heart by beckoning his lust. She was his singer, and she was irresistibly attractive. She deceived him by declaring eternal love and loyalty, and though I urged him to see her ulterior motives, he wouldn't listen, blinded by his love for her. The instant that she was turned, she betrayed us and led an uprising in an attempt to control all of Greece. We waged a secret war in the wild, and never since have I fought such a ruthless battle. Though our own army of newborns suffered heavy casualties, Aro was determined to punish the woman who had devastated him, and in his unrelenting wrath pushed us to near death. When the fighting had ended, Sulpicia was finally killed… as was my wife."

Marcus paused for a moment, and after a brief silence, continued.

"Heart-broken and ridden with guilt, Aro closed himself emotionally from everyone. He decided to live by stringent rules and rigid regulations to prevent the discovery of our society and the loss incurred from war. Even the slightest hint of aggression was immediately suppressed. He quelled his interest in building relationships by living vicariously through the experiences of his victims, and by developing an almost philosophic curiosity with the relationships of external figures, including literary characters and separate covens. But no one was allowed enough space in his heart to hurt him.

Over the centuries, he became more and more removed from his humanity. He even went as far as to kill Caius's singer for fear that she would become a traitor as Sulpicia had. Caius hid his grief much like I did, but still went through immense suffering. You see, since we are eternal creatures, our relationships are incredibly strong bonds. To lose a mate is similar to losing a piece of your soul. It is a wound that never heals, it just becomes a part of you."

Marcus paused for a second time to ponder the truth in his own words, but then diverted into a second topic.

"Alec and Jane came along after the centuries which we spent trying to mend our broken friendships. They were born sometime in late sixteenth century England. They possessed some sort of acute superhuman talents, much like your immunity to psychological abilities, and thus were deemed an invaluable resource to Aro's plans of dominance. After being exiled from London after some inane accusation of witchcraft, we provided them refuge in the northern country. However, they were discovered and were forcibly changed in their youth to ensure their survival.

We relocated to Tuscany and eventually centered our rule in Volterra, where we adopted our name as the Volturi. With the use of Alec and Jane's indomitable powers, we positioned ourselves as the most powerful coven in Europe. Over the course of the following centuries, we spread our legislation to the ends of the earth, from Asia to the Americas, with the Cullens… you should be familiar with the rest."

Marcus concluded his story quietly, leaving Bella speechless. She decided that the life of a vampire is inherently tragic, befallen with misfortune that they were left to endure for eternity. She felt slight regret for asking at all, faced now with the fact that maybe no vampire had or ever would receive a happy ending. Marcus understood that he had imparted two millennia of history on her, and she would need time to process.

"I think it is now very late and you require time to rest. I'll take my leave so that you can get some sleep," Marcus said, and he rose to make a swift exit.

"Marcus, wait!" Bella called after him, stuck with one last question.

"Aurelia… what happened to her?"

Marcus looked to the ground, realizing that he failed to mention his only daughter's fate.

"I convinced Aro that she would be of no use to him and that she was too young to remember anything about our secret. I sent her back to Athens so she could live a normal life. To my knowledge, she married and became a mother to several children. Her descendants live throughout the world today."

Bella smiled, finding hope for happy endings after all.

"Goodnight, Bella."

~:-:~

Aro entered the room later that night with the expectation that she would be sleeping. Truthfully, he had made certain of it. He knew that when she was unconscious she wouldn't be able to see the vulnerability she was to him.

She was his secret pleasure. She was the catalyst for emotions he hadn't allowed himself to feel in centuries. She was, as Marcus had warned him from the beginning, a dangerous threat to life as he deemed it.

But there she slept, a lamb in a den of lions, completely at peace. She deserved his trust through the way she trusted him. But the part of him hardened through calamities inflicted by his own mistakes kept him at a distance.

He saw the change she was inspiring in his coven, both alarmed and impressed by her capacity for patience and compassion. She won the concern of Marcus, devotion of the twins, and respect of Caius in the year she'd spent with them, something that he never assumed would be able to accomplish in a lifetime by a human.

Even from across the room, he could her the rhythm of her heart so vividly it was as if it were beating in his own chest. That's what she was. The heart of the Volturi.

Aro placed a small box on the edge of her nightstand, elegantly wrapped in golden paper and black lace. Inside laid a 16th-century necklace with a sapphire pendant, one of the most valuable of the Volturi treasures. Somewhere deep in his subconscious he wondered, if she could be trusted with such a priceless trinket, then maybe he could prove to himself that she could be trusted with his own heart.

He left the room like a shadow in the night, whose true form would be exposed by the promising light of dawn.

So there it is, the completely revised history of the Volturi! I find it interesting that in the movies Caius physically appears the youngest and Marcus the eldest, yet in the books Caius is in his forties and Marcus is merely 19. I guess I shouldn't be too preoccupied with that tiny discrepancy considering the vast amount of changes I made to the Volturi history, including killing Athenodora and Sulpicia, who turned out to be quite the ambitious bitch as opposed to a devout follower. I felt the heartbreaking dossier was sort of necessary to give the characters a more anti-hero aspect to remove the flat or even villainous portrayal they are treated with in the actual Twilight canon. Hope my heretic drabble doesn't offend too many Meyer loyalists.

I'll try to continue the updates in a more timely fashion, but no promises!


	8. Memory

A/N: Hello again! It seems I've returned to pick up my pet project once more. I'd like to have the story completed by the release of the final movie, but knowing me, that'll be a long shot. Let's see.

* * *

Bella stared at the box, packaging tape hanging limply in her hand. She had filed hundreds of pages into three complete binders, and though she had finished her task, she couldn't find the courage to seal the Cullens away forever.

She had started to become distressed when the pages she wrote began to shorten in length. The Cullens were starting to fade from memory, time corrupting the clarity of the details. The color of their hair, the timbre of their voices, the intricacies of their personalities… it was all beginning to blur like lights passed on a road that eventually vanish into the distance. And then she panicked.

She pried open the cardboard box, scraping through its contents as if she were trying to reach into her own mind and pull the memories out for closer examination. But not matter how intently she studied their possessions, she couldn't manage to remember anything about their origins. Bella collapsed in despair, accepting the defeat in her mortality.

"Bella, we've prepared your dinner."

She wearily lifted her head that had sunk into her hands and nodded without turning to face him. Marcus was so patient with her. As if he could sense the symbolic value of that last box, he never inquired upon taking it. He knew she would relinquish it when she was ready. But as she looked at the box, maniacally torn apart and resealed a hundred times, she realized she might need help.

"Marcus… I can't let them go."

He looked to her with an expression of compassion and wizened understanding. Over the years, she had discovered his naturally gentle nature and it was almost impossible to imagine him to be categorized as a bloodthirsty monster. He had a strongly paternal demeanor, and Bella couldn't help but pity Aurelia for losing such a loving father.

"Today marks the sixth anniversary of their death, does it not?"

June 15, 2012. Bella could hardly believe that it had been six years since she had first come to Volterra. Throughout those years, she worked on her task of writing the story of the Cullen family with absolute devotion. But every other spare moment of her time she dedicated to the Volturi. She spent time with each of them, and gradually, they started to share time together as they hadn't done for centuries.

"You know that I lost my wife, Didyme… it was easily the most painful and life-changing experience I've ever had to endure. It took many years for my dead heart to let her go, to move on. But I knew when I had mourned her for long enough. There comes a point when you have to put them to rest. For the both of you."

Marcus placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, like the statue of a marble angel reaching down to touch you through the mercy of divine mystery.

"As unfair as it is to have a loved one taken from us by death, we can always be grateful for the fond memories that keep us company on a nostalgic night. Edward will always be a part of who you are, he will always reside in your soul by the ways that he affected you during your lifetime. But he is at peace now, and you will come to share that peace."

Marcus placed the masking tape into Bella's hands and then gave them a gentle squeeze.

"This is the key to your peace. Use it when you're ready."

And with those final words, Marcus left her to make her decision in private. She heaved her last heartbroken sigh, releasing all her anger, sadness, and love in one cathartic breath. She lifted herself from the ground, resolved never to let the strength in her legs fail her again. She could never surrender to death when she promised that she would fight to live.

Wiping the last of the tears from her eyes, she stretched the tape over the box one final time.

~:-:~

The first few weeks, Bella felt restless. The task had given her life more purpose than she had expected, and with it now gone, Bella felt desultory. At the same time, it felt as if a crushing weight had been lifted from her chest. Her body felt lighter and her mind freed. She was a feather in the wind, careless and aimless. It worried her.

She was reluctant to admit that letting go of the Cullens did ease her pain, but she did not want to forget them. Leave them behind while she floated away. Even the books she had cherished and read almost every day no longer provided her with any gravity.

As she sat in the library, Aro took notice of the distance in her eyes. She had not turned a page in her book since she'd opened it. Three days ago.

"Bella… won't you tell me what's troubling you?" Aro asked, breaking the silence and snapping her from her stolid stare.

"I… I let them go. And I'm starting to feel it," she confessed quietly.

Aro's concerned frown suddenly disappeared as a pained laugh slipped from him. Bella gaped at his reaction, and he immediately responded to her hurt look.

"Oh, my dear, pardon me, I meant no offense. It's just… rather silly. It's a curse no matter which way it ends."

"Which way what ends?" Bella asked.

"Love," he answered, his lighthearted grin betrayed by the pain in his eyes, "I thought you should be lucky. You are still afforded the healing effects of time. When you turn, everything is sealed in place. You no longer grow, you no longer decay. The things you want to remember are bound eternally with what you want to forget. This is how I thought I would live the remainder of my existence, until…"

Aro stopped himself from completing his sentence, and suddenly he couldn't look at her anymore. She had changed him. It was a long process, too slow for him to recognize and too strong for him to resist, but she had pulled out and pieced together what remained of a soul in his body. She never asked for power, immortality, or even her own life. Yet she gave him a companion, a home, a feeling without asking for a single thing in return. He no longer needed to steal the memories of his victims to feel. Through her, he was living again. And as much as he wanted her by his side, in his arms, in his bed… he would never risk losing her.

Bella's heart skipped a beat as it suddenly became clear to her. She had forbidden herself from hoping he would come into her room and hold her as he had so many years before. She always admonished herself and turned her thoughts towards Edward. Convinced herself she would always be loyal to him. But as each year passed, the desire became stronger. Yet she had never expected that perhaps he reciprocated her feelings. She assumed he viewed her as a pet or a curiosity, not an equal. It was time to know before she broke her own heart again.

"Until what?" she asked, raising from her chair and stepping towards Aro. He avoided her eyes until she placed her hands firmly on his cold cheeks and his amber eyes met with hers.

"Until what?" she repeated in a softer tone.

This was the last wall. Aro felt every barrier he had constructed since Sulpicia's betrayal crumble at her tender voice and merciful touch.

"Until… I fell in love with you."

A relieved laugh escaped from Bella's lips before Aro claimed them with his own. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as she fell onto him, filled with a sudden need to be close to him. Even though his thirsty fangs were lacquered with poison, she could feel no restraint in his kiss. It came so naturally to him, and perhaps by years of exercising his supernatural abilities, he expertly roamed her lips without fear of hurting her. Her instinctive hesitation began to yield as he traced her lips with his tongue, begging her for more. She parted her lips and submitted to his request, allowing him to explore the warmth and sweet taste. He moaned as Bella kissed him in return, such a long forgotten feeling.

He smiled against her lips as he broke their kiss, allowing Bella to catch her breath. Bella did not possess the same skill and might cut her tongue by accident, and even though he had centuries of training his self-restraint, as they grew more passionate the predator in him could smell the sweat, taste the adrenaline, feel the pulsing rhythm of her blood…

His attention was suddenly drawn to the delicious vein in her neck. He couldn't resist burying his face into it, drawing a pleased sigh from Bella. He started recalling her taste through Edward's memories and he began to doubt his self-control when a flash of light crossed his eye. He followed its origin to the sapphire pendant around Bella's neck, the birthday present he'd given her years before.

"I knew it was from you," Bella said, interrupting his fixated stare. He had never left a note, but such an exquisite gift could only have been from him. He lifted the pendant in his palm, grazing his thumb across the precious stone.

"It is all that remains from my mortal life. Such a gem was impossibly rare in those days. It was my most prized and secret treasure," he confided. He could speak to her with honesty he never afforded anyone for nearly a millennia.

"And there is no better person on this earth to be its owner," he said while tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, something he had seen her do a million times in passing and had always wanted to do himself. But while he had expected her to blush and bite her lip, she turned away instead.

"Bella…" he whispered, trying to draw her back to him.

"Are we monsters? Can we just forget them? Edward? Sulpicia? Leave them behind us while we live happily ever after?" she asked in a pained tone. Aro stepped towards her and grasped her hand.

"Bella, I will never replace Edward in your heart. And you will never be able to remove the damage Sulpicia has done. First love can never be erased or forgotten. But as the phrase implies, it is not your only chance at happiness. With the pain comes wisdom, and with memory comes recognition. You would never be able to appreciate love for what it is without first knowing heartbreak, and for that, we must be eternally grateful to them."

Bella knew she couldn't protest. His words were true, but her mind still felt unsettled. As she leaned back into his embrace, she felt a certain bittersweet pang of guilt and excitement. The past, which lingered in the back of her mind, was where it belonged. And she knew, underneath her internal strife, that this was where she truly belonged.

* * *

Well, I've finally got around to shacking up Bella and Aro. Eight chapters down, four to go. Let me know what you think!


	9. Proposal

Hello all! A new chapter in time for the opening night of Breaking Dawn, Part II! Even though I do not follow the movies or by any means encourage you to see them, I did insert a small nod to the cinematic finish of the series that inspired this bit of fan fiction. I've been in such a mood to write lately, so who knows? Maybe I'll get this story done in time to publish the final chapter on its third anniversary. Wishful thinking.

* * *

Aro was pacing alone in the courtyard, trying to articulate the perfect words for an invisible companion. As the sky began to glow a light blue with the signs of morning, he realized it'd been several hours since he slipped away from the bed he and Bella had shared for the past six months. Of course, as a sleepless immortal being tasked with leading vampire civilization, it was routine for him to leave in the midst of the night, but he was certain to return each morning before she woke.

As the sun peered over the horizon and his skin faintly glimmered in the feeble light, he turned to retreat into the castle only to be faced with a particularly somber looking Marcus awaiting him in the doorway.

"Ah, Marcus," Aro called in his typically smooth voice, hoping he wouldn't have to learn the reason behind Marcus' troubled appearance.

"I've noticed your peculiar habit of returning to this exact spot each night for the past week, Aro. Care to explain why you're here, or rather, whose ghost you've been colluding with?"

Aro chuckled. Marcus could be a master of subtly and an unparalleled negotiator in all matters but those in which he was emotionally invested.

"Well, it may please you to know," Aro replied in a playful manner, "I was not engaging in a discussion rather than rehearsing one."

"Oh?" Marcus inquired with a raised brow.

"Yes, and if you can keep it a secret, which I happen to know is a most excellent skill of yours, I will summarize its contents with this," he explained as he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. He gingerly unwrapped it to reveal the secret- a ring. It was a simple white gold band, which Aro planned to be set with the stone on Bella's necklace.

"You intend to propose marriage to Bella?" Marcus asked, though he knew the answer well enough. He had felt Aro's growing affections for Bella throughout the years, which had only solidified in the past few months as a legitimate couple.

"Yes. I'm planning for St. Valentine's Day. Apparently it has some romantic connotations these days that make it the most auspicious date. I think she would like it," Aro explained with a small smile, eyes never leaving the ring in his palm.

"And you think this to be a wise endeavor?" Marcus questioned with the tiniest inkling of criticism. Aro perceived the meaning and returned his eyes to Marcus.

"Of course. It only seems natural that we make her a proper member of our coven and announce her as my official mate," Aro said without missing a beat. He'd contemplated the idea incessantly for a week. Or perhaps longer. Since the moment they kissed, he knew he never wanted to live life without her.

"Knowing you would need to turn her? Force her into a life with you without ever being given a real choice?" Marcus said calmly and yet with intensity in his eyes.

Aro frowned and opened his mouth to retort in anger, but stopped himself. Instead, he let out a reassured laugh and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Don't worry, my ever prudent Marcus. If freedom is what she wants, then she'll simply refuse my offer. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's somewhere I need to be," he said before promptly disappearing into the castle.

Marcus let out a sigh and cast his eyes toward the red sky. How could a bird desire freedom when they have forgotten that they live in a cage?

~:-:~

Bella sighed as she trekked through the Volturi corridors to her room. It had been such a long and lovely day. She had an authentic Tuscan breakfast in the morning. She had been so spoiled by European delicacies for so many years she could seldom remember her former diet of American fast food tasted like. In the afternoon she had taken piano lessons from Alec, who turned out to be a very accommodating teacher. In the last few months she had progressed considerably, and he handed her a Chopin mazurka as her first full-scale classical piece. He assured her it was Chopin today and Debussy tomorrow. She played a number of games with Jane and Tessy for the remainder of the evening, and at some times even convinced a passing Marcus or Caius to join. They would sound reluctant at first, but Caius was fiercely competitive and Marcus had an incredible poker face. Aro appeared around dinnertime. He had been suspiciously scarce lately, and sometimes Bella would wake in the night and notice his absence. She didn't make a fuss since she knew he would return in the morning, so she let him go on believing he'd fooled her. But she felt it in her heart when he went missing. She had tried to resist, yet she was irrevocably happy with him. Guilt buried deep inside still nagged at her conscience, and she didn't know if she deserved a second chance, if it was fair. But everything seemed perfect in this hazy dream world. Why question it…?

As she placed a hand on the doorknob, she noticed something was amiss. There was a smell emanating from her room. An earthy, musky scent that seemed so familiar. Almost…

Her eyes widened as she finally found the memory. She pushed open the door and immediately recognized the intruder.

"Is that really you…? Jacob?"

It had been years since Bella had seen him, but he looked just as supernaturally tall as she remembered, albeit slightly less muscular. Any signs of childhood softness were replaced by hard lines. His high cheekbones and strong jawline were even more defined with age, his black hair neatly lining the sides of his face, which was now marked with a few faint scars. He dark skin was covered with a light sheen of sweat, evidence of his three-story climb up to her window. Her curtains billowed around him as a cold wind invaded her room, and even in the Italian winter, he wore only a thin shirt and jeans.

"Bella," the specter replied with a low growl.

This couldn't be real. He was a ghost. Or she was dead. She'd died in her sleep and gone to heaven. Or maybe this was hell, and he was her reckoning. There was only one way to know.

She cautiously approached him, a different emotion following each step. Complete despair. Unadulterated joy. Sickening confusion. Immense relief. She reached out a hand and placed it on his chest. She almost gasped at the heat.

The anger Jacob had harbored for years, at her but primarily himself, dissipated with her touch. He took her small, pale hand in his and drew it up to his cheek. Her scent, which had been long dead, was all too welcome.

"Bella," he repeated, yet this time in a softer voice almost resembling a whimper.

She let go of a small sob as a he pulled her into a full embrace. Tears rimmed her eyes as she held onto her long lost friend. It was if no time had elapsed since they last met, and it occurred to her that their last parting hadn't been much different than their reunion. She almost expected his lips to seek hers. But Jacob had grown more temperate. Perhaps through years of disciplining control over his wolfish tendencies.

"Oh, my god. Oh, my god, my god!" she cried as the reality finally sunk in. Jacob was here. Jacob was alive! He wasn't a ghost and he wasn't dead. He was here, he was warm, he was breathing and his heart was beating. She cupped his face, ran her hands along his shoulders, tugged at his hair. All the dreams she'd had longing to see him again, all the times she'd told herself she never would. It was as if suddenly anything were possible.

"I thought…" she started, her voice wavering as her chest tightened. She couldn't muster the will to say it out loud, but he understood.

"I know! I thought you had, too."

She looked at him with tears in her eyes and shuddered. Not from shock or the cold, but the unexpected urge to laugh. It didn't make sense, but neither did this moment. Before they knew it, they were both in hysterics. Hugging, crying and laughing all at once. When they finally caught their breath, Bella felt the urgency of the situation.

"Jacob, you shouldn't have come here. They'll kill you if they find you."

She felt his grip on her tense as he stared at her with fiery eyes.

"You think anything could have stopped me from getting to you once I knew you were alive?"

"How did you find me?" she asked with genuine curiosity as to how this miracle came about.

"Charlie. He received a letter from you two weeks ago, and-"

Before he could finish the answer, the door opened. Jacob snarled as he defensively pulled Bella closer and shielded her with his arm, which instantly increased in size while sprouting fur and claws. Jacob hadn't lost any muscle; he had just grown more adept at shape shifting.

Jane, looking more murderous than Bella had ever seen her, stood with fangs bared and eyes narrowed.

"Let her go, and maybe I will spare you," she hissed.

"Are you kidding me? I'm never letting go of Bella again!" Jacob barked.

"I won't let you kidnap her!"

"Me, kidnap her?! You are the kidnappers!"

Bella felt dizzy. It felt like she was watching the end of the world. Her old life and her new one were violently clashing and destroying each other.

"Stop, please…" she pleaded before her knees buckled.

She heard the people she loved calling her name as she faded into blackness.

~:-:~

When Bella woke, it was sometime late in the night and her head was pounding. Bella's first assumption was that the entire commotion had just been another dream. But then a worried Jane and Alec wouldn't be sitting by her bedside.

"I… fainted?" she asked as she blinked her way into consciousness.

"Yes. I can only imagine the ordeal that nasty wolf put you through," Jane replied, dabbing her forehead with a wet towel.

"Don't worry, Bella. We easily apprehended him- one wolf is no match for the entire Volturi coven. We've locked him away in the dungeon, and he'll face a swift execution in the morning," Alec said, assuming she would feel relieved. Instead, her face went white as she absorbed his words in horror.

"Execution?! No!"

Bella couldn't bare the thought of losing him a second time. She shoved her bedding aside and fell to the floor. Before Alec or Jane could register her panicked response, she was rushing out the door.

"Bella! Where are you going?!"

~:-:~

Aro sat in the main chamber, silent and livid. How DARE that monstrous creature lay a finger on his Bella. That lowly, filthy animal had infiltrated his home and frightened his bride-to-be. It was an intolerable offense, and he contemplated the true joy he would feel upon administering the fatal punishment the dog deserved.

"Aro!"

A very disoriented and distressed Bella stood before him. Yet in all her weak and disheveled appearance, there was the resonant sound of anger in the way she shrieked his name. Too concerned about her well being to understand her rage, he rushed to her side.

He placed a gentle hand on her arm to help her balance, only for her to forcefully shrug it off.

"How could you not tell me?" she shouted. Her face was bright red and she was nearly hyperventilating, either from running across the castle or from the deep barb of betrayal that was burrowing into her heart.

"Tell you what, my love?" Aro asked innocently, trying to calm the tempest storm swelling in Bella's chest.

"That Jacob survived! You said there were no survivors!" she screamed accusingly.

"Oh, come now. He was a wolf. Certainly you were only inquiring about members of the Olympic coven."

"You KNEW they were my friends! Like family! How many stories have I told you about my life back home?! How many times have I said his name with pain in my voice?!"

At this point the entire castle, already on alert from the situation of a dangerous intruder, was fully aware of the fight ensuing. Caius and Marcus stood on the opposite end while Jane and Alec simply watched stupefied from the doorway. No one else dared to enter the room, easily choosing a battle with a werewolf to an enraged Bella.

Before Aro had the chance to give her a sugar-laced reply, she continued.

"And the letters I wrote to my parents?! Why are they just now receiving them?"

For that, Aro had no excuse. He remembered the day she'd written them, how she looked almost optimistic for the first time since she arrived, and he simply did not have the heart to tell her sending them was an absolute breach of a thoroughly established security. Instead, he instructed Jane to dispose of them. He looked to Jane, whose eyes were intently downcast.

"Bella…"

"You lied to me!" she screamed.

Tears were now streaming down her face. He hated to see her so upset. He hated that he had caused her pain.

"I lied to protect you," he answered desperately.

"You lied to protect yourself!"

With those final stinging words, she fled from the room. Jane followed closely behind her, while Alec remained motionless in the doorway. Caius and Marcus looked pained, while Aro was frozen in shock.

"I hadn't hoped for this…" Marcus said, softly breaking the heavy silence.

"That mutt is acquainted with our Bella?" Caius asked.

"It would seem so."

Caius almost snorted at his response.

"That makes killing him a little complicated."

The two discussed the problem at hand while Aro stayed uncharacteristically mute, glaring darkly out one of the windows facing away from the conversation.

"I sense a strong bond between the two. Severing it could cause severe damage to Bella's psychological wellbeing. And she has already suffered a great deal," Marcus said, an empathetic sorrow in his voice.

"She won't be happy about this. But perhaps in time, she'll forgive us. A human heart heals with greater speed than the stagnant hearts of vampires."

"I'm not so sure, Caius. Killing that werewolf would traumatize her. I don't want to fathom the consequences. Particularly actions she might take against herself-"

"Enough," Aro interjected abruptly.

"The wolf will be set free, so long as he promises never to return. Isabella has dutifully served us. She will be released in the morning to reside where ever she so chooses."

The pair looked to Aro dumbfounded, but before the other two elders could speak a word, he hastily retreated into what remained of the night.

~:-:~

Bella had lived in the Volturi castle for years, but never in that time had she thought to explore the dungeons. In this moment, she regretted that decision. Not only was it blindingly dark, but there was no semblance of logic to the mess of cages holed deep into the ground.

"Jacob!" she cried into the darkness. She heard his faint reply echo across the stone halls, but was unable to detect the direction of his voice. Right as she was about to surrender to frustration, she felt a small hand clasp hers.

"I'll lead you to him," spoke the soft voice of Jane.

"Thank you," Bella whispered as she let the vampire youth guide her through the darkness. To her relief, the portion of the dungeon where they had chained Jacob was partially lit by a small hole penetrating through the ceiling of the cell. As soon as she saw him, bruised and bloodied while pressed up against the bars, she rushed to him.

"Jacob! Oh, god! I'm so sorry, Jacob," she cried as she gently touched his swollen lip.

"It's fine, I'm fine. You should see the other guy," he said with a smile, which was now noticeably missing a tooth. She couldn't help but giggle at how one missing tooth could make the rugged, full-grown Jacob look like a child who had just fallen off a swing set. They both broke out into laughter, sharing the same thought. Bella closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh. She always had fun with Jacob no matter how grave the situation, and it seemed just like old times. When she opened her eyes, Jacob's face was stern, yet confident.

"Come home with me, Bella."

Her smile changed into a pain-stricken look. Jacob noticed and felt it puncture an old wound. She had made that face many times before, and even after all these years, he still remembered what it looked like when Bella was going to refuse him. But not this time.

"Jacob…" she started to protest before he quickly interrupted.

"Come back to Washington, Bella! You don't belong here, with those…" he started when looked to Jane, who was silently waiting in the corner. She did not look at them or flinch when Jacob poised to insult the Volturi, but only out of deep respect towards Bella. His honor wouldn't let him scorn someone who revered Bella as much as he did.

"With the Volturi. Come back with me," he said and reached out to gently touch her chin. She bit her lip instinctively, a habit she thought she had broken years ago. It was so easy to feel comfortable around Jacob, and she couldn't deny that she had missed him dearly.

"You know this place will never be a home for a human, and you don't need to give up your soul for me. You'll always be safe and warm with me. Breathing fresh air, heart beating, sleeping peacefully," he said in a calm tone, stroking a lock of hair behind her ear. His words were almost enchanting, his low voice enough to lull you into a dream.

"And my dad?" Bella asked, breaking her reverie.

"Charlie? He's tough, but losing you changed him. He never wanted to accept that you were really gone this time. He never stopped looking for you, believing you were out there somewhere. After awhile, we all thought he was crazy, even I…"

Jacob looked away, calming the anger he felt against himself. He had given up hope like everyone else. Only Charlie knew the truth in his melancholy heart's convictions. He should've done the same.

"Jacob, it's OK…" Bella reassured him. She didn't blame him for giving up hope. Sometimes that was better than breaking your heart every day by holding onto it.

"You need to come back with me, Bella. Charlie needs you. I need you. Please," he begged.

After all their kindness, how could she desert the Volturi now? She had finished her assigned task, her entire reason for staying in Volterra, but they all simply ignored the fact that she had finished well before the deadline. What could she do?

"Bella."

Marcus stood behind her, Jane now at his back. He took her hand and helped her up from the floor, placing a large set of bronze keys in her palm.

"Release your friend and follow me."

~:-:~

Dawn was breaking when Bella and Jacob entered the council chambers. Marcus had informed her that the Volturi had decided to give her control of her fate. Aro, Caius and Marcus were all assembled at their respective seats while Jane and Alec stood solemnly by the door. On the surface, it appeared like any other day for the Volturi. But in each member's heart, they felt a strong anxiety as Bella advanced toward the council with her decision. She felt a sudden affection for all of them, but she sought out Aro. However, he was resolute in avoiding her gaze.

"So Bella, have you made your choice?" Caius asked.

"I… I have," she responded meekly. Aro's eyes finally met with hers. In them, she heard all his thoughts, even if she wasn't psychic. She wished she could open her mind to him this once. Truly let him know how much he meant to her, since her words wouldn't be able to help him understand.

"I will return to Forks," she declared in a loud yet wistful voice. Aro removed his gaze from her, stoically looking forward while Caius made the official judgment.

"In that case, we the three Volturi leaders, enforcers of the Vampiric world order and punishers of Immortal injustice, hereby release Isabella Marie Swan from our service. In return for our hospitality and mercy, you are expected to remain eternally silent of vampire existence and are expressly forbidden from revealing said existence to the human world. Any and all infractions are punishable by death… though I'm sure you understand everything clearly, Bella," Caius said, ending his formal declaration with familiarity as a small acknowledgment of their friendship. Bella accepted it with a reciprocating nod.

"As for you," he said, turning to Jacob with a less cordial tone, "you are henceforth banished from Volterra for the remainder of your mortal life. Disregard of your sentence or silence will be rectified by a swift death. Do you understand, Mr. Black?"

"I do," Jacob said curtly. He hated every minute spent in this prison, but its wardens had kept Bella safe and healthy, so he would be grateful for that.

"Then you are both free to go," Caius said in a firm tone, but without his dutiful spirit.

"Let's go," Jacob said, insistently tugging at Bella's arm.

"Wait!" she protested, freeing herself from his grip and turning to Jane and Alec. The twins were mirror images in their disappointment. She got down to her knees to speak to them at their level.

"Bella, why are you leaving? Don't you know you don't have to go?" Alec asked with the pleading eyes of his human age.

"Oh, Alec, I do have to go. But promise me you'll keep playing music, even if there's no audience. Always do the things you love for you, not for anyone else," she instructed before looking to Jane.

"Jane, keep your brother company. You are lucky to have a sibling because it means you'll never have to be alone. Both of you remember that. As long as you have each other, and as long as I'm alive, you'll never be alone."

"We promise," they answered in perfect unison. As she reached out to embrace the heart-breaking children, she felt the tears in her eyes. They eagerly scrambled into her arms, reluctant to let go as she stood to leave.

She looked over to the council chairs and noticed that Aro had gone missing.

"Aro?" she called out in a heavyhearted cry. She was abandoning her lover and greatest friend, and he was doing the same.

"He's versed in many texts and adept at many skills, but saying goodbye was never one of them," Marcus said, sensing her guilt.

"I just… Give this to him, won't you?" she asked, removing the pendant from her neck and trusting Marcus to return it.

"Keep it," he insisted, carefully re-clasping it around her neck, "I'm sure Aro would want it that way."

Bella stared at the sapphire, her own Volturi emblem, before the tears finally fell and she rushed into Marcus' arms.

"There, there," Marcus said in his paternal tone, "you will be alright. You will live a beautiful life. My only regret it that I won't be able to see it."

Bella stifled a sob and nodded as she pulled away from him. Marcus had been a patient and attentive mentor for her recovery from the start. She owed her life to him, but it was a debt he would never expect to be paid. All the members of the Volturi, underneath a cold guarded exterior, were what made Bella certain in her belief that vampires must have souls.

As Bella left Volterra and took steps into the morning light, she couldn't help but feel that she was leaving home more than returning to it.

* * *

The end… Just kidding! I've still got three more chapters in store for you. I hope you enjoyed the latest, please read and review to fuel inspiration for the next chapter!


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